


Paper Tigers

by mini_ju



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cat Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul/Ten, Cat Lee Taeyong, Crying, Eventual Romance, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Hybrids, Light Angst, M/M, Mild Blood and Injury, Minor Violence, Puppy Kim Jungwoo (NCT), Slow Burn, but like against a tree so it's fine, like ... they cry so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-12 09:08:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19943659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mini_ju/pseuds/mini_ju
Summary: Jungwoo was aware that Lucas smelled good and treated him right and he was ridiculously attractive to anyone with eyes, but absolutely no crush here.And yeah, maybe the hug had been quite long and Jungwoo had never felt so safe in his life, but it was still just a friendly hug.He would never dare to destroy the bond he was forming with Lucas because of some stupid feelings (that he didn’t have !)He closed his phone and put it back onto the nightstand.





	1. Chapter 1

♥For Shila♥

♥ Thank you for loving me ♥

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, ich hoffe du magst dein Geschenk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ○ English isn't my first language, so I'm sorry if it sounds awkward at times ○
> 
> ○ I don't have a beta reader, so there could be quite a few mistakes in there ○
> 
> ○ Blood and violence is mentionend, so proceed with caution if that triggers you ○


	2. Chapter 2

Warm. The very first feeling you get after a really good rest. It’s so warm.

Some would call it cozy, feeling almost safe in the gentle lull between sleep and awake. Others would call it hot, the need to get out of the heat, to feel some cool to wake up the still sleep ridden mind.

He was one of those people who relished in this precious time. Mind in a state of limbo, eyes still closed, completely focused on just “feeling”. You’re not thinking. You’re not overthinking. Your mind is just floating through the foggy parts of your barely conscious brain.

This is of course not a permanent headspace.

We all have to wake up at some point.

The more time passed, the more he became aware of what caused the incredible warmth surrounding him. He was buried underneath probably three or four soft blankets, his body resting on plushy fabric cushions, his head nuzzled in a big, fuzzy pillow. He sighed. Slowly he began propping his head upon the pillow. His limbs were still too heavy to move, so he just continued to lie on his left side in a somewhat fetal position.

He felt so safe.

After an exaggerated yawn, he slowly began to open his eyes.

The light wasn’t too blinding in the room, but he still needed a few seconds of blinking to adjust. The whole space was tinged in dim, warm light, mostly coming from outside. It was being filtered through the crème coloured curtains on the big window behind him, causing it to appear way softer than it probably was on the outside.

His gaze shifted to the right towards the TV on the opposite wall to the couch. There was a dark wooden structure full of cupboards and shelves surrounding it. Every nook and cranny had some sort of knick-knacks in it. Vases with little succulents, small souvenirs from different continents collected over the course of time and a few stray books and other miscellaneous things filled up most of the visible as well as the closed up storage space of the geometric structure.

He smiled faintly, thinking about how much trouble his two housemates must have had setting up something so complex.

As his mind began to wake up more and more, slowly his memories from earlier in the day came back to him.

He had been so tired from his morning shift at his job he had decided to take a nap in the living room.

He had opened the windows to let some fresh, autumnal air in the space and grabbed the softest blankets he could find. His sleep should be refreshing, but still cozy. Even though he loved the soft sofa cushions, he had wanted to take the extra mile, to guarantee the best possible nap, so he went for one more trip to his room to get his favourite purple pillow. It was soft and absorbed smells to neutralize them, which was heaven for his sensitive nose. It had been a gift from one of his best friends when he had first moved in.

The last step before lying down and succumbing to the sweet slumber he craved so much had been to draw the day-curtains. Not the heavy dark ones they always drew around night-time, which would block out all sunlight, but the rather flimsy beige ones that made the harsh shine of the midday sun rather soft and pleasant.

After feeling like everything was in place, he had climbed into his makeshift nest on the couch. His head had barely hit the pillow and he was out.

The sleep and been dreamless, but so very deep.

Feeling more awake after recalling the previous events, his eyes shifted to the digital clock on the wall over the doorway, which lead to the front entrance.

It was now 4:21 pm.

He had slept for a little more than three hours. The sunlight wasn’t as harsh as it had been before which caused an even softer look of the whole room.  
After another heavy sigh, he decided he had enough of lying down.

He began to stretch out his legs first, making them long, even curling his toes.  
Next were his arms. He reached over his head, clasping his hands together and reaching as far as he could.  
Last but not least was his back, which he arched, bulging his tummy in the front.  
A long “Uuuuugh” was the only noise escaping him.

After feeling thoroughly stretched, he quickly sat up, crossing his legs.

He still felt the slightest bit dizzy, but he decided to just take in the room that he was in once more, now also being able to see beyond the sofa and behind himself if he wanted.

He took in every detail.

The beige sofa made a good observing point, as it stood pretty much in the middle of the room, paired with two identical big chairs left and right, made out of the same material as the couch.

This was the only space in the room, where a rug had been placed over the light wooden flooring. The rug was not fuzzy, but still soft and had a pastel blue colour, giving the whole room a touch of colour, without overwhelming it. He even napped on there sometimes, stealing one of the many pillows from either the sofa or one of the chairs.

From the slightly off-white wall with the TV and the shelves in front of him, his gaze wandered to the right.

There was the entrance to the kitchen, which was quite big, but also not too big. Just the right size for three young men living together if you asked him. He turned his head further, taking in the various big plants in the corner. Some of them didn’t look too good, but he knew they would be alright, one of his buddies had a green thumb after all.

To see behind him he had to turn his whole upper body quite a bit, causing some of the bones to pop. He giggled silently at the noise.

The whole wall behind him was made out of glass. Big sectioned windows and two doors leading to the outside. If the curtains weren’t drawn, one would have been able to look out at the big terrace that lies behind it. It had some dark, rattan seats and a bench, together with a small table and a mini fire pit in the middle. Off to the right was the big, red barbeque grill.

At the thought of the grill, his stomach began to growl. It sure had been a while since he had last eaten. He made a mental note to grab a snack after he was finished with his observing session.

Leaving the curtains behind, he quickly turned his torso to the left. He wasn’t an owl after all.

The left side was mainly the hallway leading to the other rooms of the apartment. Currently it was quite dark as none of the doors were open to let in some light and of course, the lamps were not on. He could still roughly make out the shapes of picture frames hanging on the walls of the vast corridor. Some of them were crooked; all of them were in a different size. A smile again made it to his face as he thought of the pictures inside the frames. They were all of his housemates, his friends and himself. Memories captured in one snapshot to be looked at for as long as they were visible in some way.

Not wanting to get too nostalgic he continued his gazing journey to the right over the small bit of wall beside the corridor, also full of different pictures and lined with cheap IKEA shelves full of small plants. At last, his eyes came to the only spot he hadn’t observed yet. It was the big, rounded entryway of the apartment with the digital clock over it. Behind it was a little space to put your shoes and coat before entering the flat. The main door was made out of dark wood and had a keypad on the outside.

He sighed for the nth time in a short period and threw his head back, just looking at the white ceiling.

He remembered the first time he stepped through that door.

His gaze softened slightly. He owed Ten and Johnny more than he could ever repay them. They had taken him in, made sacrifices left and right just for him.

Once he had asked them why. Why they did this for him, why did they think he deserved to be a part of their little family?

“Jungwoo”, Ten had said with a slight smile on his face, his eyes scrunched together just a bit, his black cat ears alert on his head, sleek black tail lightly swishing from left to right, “because we love you, you big softie.” Johnny had stood behind him, the same small smile on his lips, arms folded over one another and nodding along.

Jungwoo had cried so much that evening, he couldn’t remember if he ever produced this many tears on one occasion. Johnny and Ten had held him for what seemed like forever, stroking over his hair and rocking back and forth with him inside their arms. He had felt so safe. They even rubbed his sensitive ears just the way he liked it, very careful as he was quite peculiar about them.

The thing is, all of this could have been way less dramatic if the world wasn’t so stuck up on the “Traditional picture” of Hybrids.

It had been quite some time since the first Hybrids entered the public sphere. Scientists had managed to cross human with animal DNA, creating a whole new species with altered genes. They were hereditary, so if two Hybrids decided to reproduce, their child would also be a Hybrid. Mixing Subspecies wasn’t too much of a problem here, basic Darwinism and dominant as well as recessive genes took care of that.

Up to a certain point in time, quite a few decades back, Hybrids were mostly produced inside laboratories and then bread with others of their kind, to create “clean” children.

At that time, Hybrids were marketed as basically pets with a plus. They were still property and not seen as human, but they could clean, cook, everything you would need from a slave. Some of them were also specifically bred to be sex-slaves, but this had been prohibited very quickly by law, even though the shady businesses just continued to do it under the radar and with enough money to keep important people silent.

Even though the regulations have changed, Hybrids were now officially nearly equal to humans, it was mostly on paper and not in reality.

Hybrids were still put in “Adoption Houses” to get adopted out into a family or to any person really, as they still needed to be “owned” by law. In those houses, they received basic servant training as well as some education. Depending on the house, you could be lucky and have normal education like human children, but if you were not so lucky, you would just learn the basics to survive and the focus was more on creating a perfectly docile servant.

As a Hybrid, you could live alone, have a family of your own, have a job, everything a basic human could, just as long as you were signed under someone’s name. Of course, this form of life-style was still relatively new and quite frowned upon by the general society. This caused people to still treat Hybrids as properties to this day. Mainly old, lonely people who want to hold on to some bullshit sense of “tradition” just won’t accept Hybrids in their picture of “society”.

Jungwoo had always thought this regulation was pretty fucked up.

He had been placed in one of those “Adoption houses “when he was just an infant. He doesn’t know his parents, doesn’t even know if he ever had real parents or was just fresh out of a laboratory and then placed into supervised housing. Through the required blood-work they found out that he was a purebred Australian Shepperd Hybrid. His soft, floppy ears had a light brown colour on the outside with some white, longer fur on the inside. His tail was the same warm brown as his ears with just some white at the tip.

He considered himself pretty lucky with the house he had grown up in. They would focus a lot on the education of all the hybrids, regardless of their age. The teachers taught them the history of their kind, basic Hybrid-law if they ever had to defend themselves in court or in front of the police and some of them even were Hybrids themselves.

Jungwoo has had a few friends growing up, the facility being rather small and housing several older Hybrids hadn’t helped in that sense, but he had made the best of it.

Some had regarded him as rather odd because his two main friends were both Cat Hybrids and he was a Puppy-Hybrid. He’d never really paid any mind to their comments. Taeyong and Ten had always been there for him and he knew they would have his back in any situation. The thing was, they both had rather different, but equally as tragic backstories, while he lived a more or less normal life. It hadn’t always been easy for the three of them, but they made it work.

Taeyong had been dropped off at the facility when he was barely seven by the father of his human family, who was also his legal owner. The files said they had him since he was just a tiny kitten. He was a purebred white Scottish fold and no one knew why the family didn’t want him anymore. He had looked nothing short of adorable with his small ears, fluffy tail, and big eyes. After trying to question his legal guardian without success they took the quiet boy in. Soon it became apparent, what could have been the reason for his “return”.

Taeyong hated to be touched. He would throw a fit, scratch and bite and have a panic attack as soon as someone would try to lay a hand on him. They had tried to treat him, but to no avail, so they tried to accept him the way he was and made the best of it. Everybody knew to keep their distance from him if they didn’t want to be scratched up.

Jungwoo had known that too, but one day, when he was just walking in the corridors of the bedroom dorm, he had heard some whimpering and sobbing from not too far away. When he went and checked out the noise, he had found Taeyong curled in a ball, hands clamping in his hair, having a panic attack. To this day he wasn’t sure what overcame him, but he had sat down next to the Hybrid, without touching him of course, and just began talking. About everything and everyone and slowly Taeyong had calmed down. His breaths became shallower and his hands had left his hair at some point. Jungwoo had told him about his issues with his ears, how they were so sensitive, he didn’t want anyone to touch them ever, and for the first time, the little cat had smiled.

From this day on, their friendship had slowly progressed up to the point where Jungwoo was the only person allowed to physically touch Taeyong. It was one of his proudest moments to this day.

Ten came to the house when he was 10 (ha ha).  
He had been beaten up pretty badly and unconscious. They had taken him to the emergency sector immediately and did some bloodwork on him, only to be unable to detect a specific breed. This sometimes happens and Hybrids like that were often treated way worse than purebreds, which would explain all of little Ten’s bruises. He hadn’t been in life-threatening danger, but his wounds would need quite some time to heal and the doctors were unable to save half of his right ear.

When he had regained consciousness three days later, the first thing he did was trash the room and cower in a corner in fear. It had taken four doctors and two nurses to calm him down and convince him that he was safe. After this rocky first day, the little cat had started to get better, talked to one of the house therapists daily and began to make friends.

This was when he had found Jungwoo, who had been sitting by himself on a swing set at the time, listening to music. The curious little black cat had started a conversation with him about the band he was listening to and they had been inseparable from then on. Through Jungwoo, Ten became friends with the shy Taeyong and soon the trio was seen everywhere together.

Walking into an “Adoption house” you could pretty much adopt a Hybrid every day, but there were some special events to increase the adoption rate.

Jungwoo knew that sooner or later his friend group would have to split up.

Taeyong was surprisingly the first one to go. He had met a guy at one of the festivals and the man kept coming multiple times a week just to meet Taeyong.

They grew closer and closer with every meeting. They were close in age too, both around 19, and it was just a matter of time until the cat would go. Jungwoo had been happy that Taeyong had found someone he could trust und Jaehyun seemed like a good guy. After he was gone, they kept in contact via text and still met up occasionally to this day.

Ten left one year later. He also had met Johnny at one of the festivals, but their start had been a bit wilder than Taeyong and Jaehyun’s.

Johnny had been one of the main sponsors of the event as he was the CEO of a very successful record company and originally had just attended to leave an impressive image behind. That plan changed as soon as he laid eyes on Ten. They had slept together in a broom closet and were pretty much inseparable after that. After a short period, Johnny had officially adopted Ten. They’d moved into a big flat in a quite expensive part of town and still loved each other fiercely up to the present day.

Now, that left Jungwoo by himself. It wasn’t that he was alone, he had just felt a bit lonely after his two closest friends were gone. He had moped around for a bit but ultimately decided to make the best of his remaining time. Maybe he would get adopted soon as well.

The day came sooner than he thought and sadly it was not because of a love story or anything like that. Half a year after Ten was gone, the facility was forced to close down. It was too small and cost too much, so it was shut down by the government. The Hybrids got a two weeks notice. Either they were going to be adopted in those 2 weeks or they were going to be rehomed.

Jungwoo had slightly panicked at that. He didn’t want to move into a new, bigger house, with way more Hybrids inside, but how on earth was he going to be adopted in just two weeks?

In his deep desperation and helplessness, the puppy had called Ten, asking for his advice.

And this was how he ended up where he was now.

Ten hadn’t even let him finish speaking before deciding to take him in. The black cat had called his boyfriend asap, who had been immediately on board with Ten’s idea, and they drove to the adoption center the same evening.

Now, there was a process to basically “lease” a Hybrid for up to six months before actually adopting it. It saved a lot of paperwork in the case of a return. Because Ten and Johnny were aware, that they were not Jungwoo’s forever home, Johnny decided to sign a leasing contract. When Ten knocked on Jungwoo’s door with a big smile on his face and just said: “Pack up puppy, you’re going home with us.”, Jungwoo felt relieved as he had never felt before.

Even though it was just temporarily, he had a home for now, with people he trusted, and that had been the most important thing to him. He could think about the future in the six months

to come.

When he had arrived at their flat, his new home for the next six months, he had nearly broken down in tears. He was just so grateful. He had his own room that he could decorate right up to his taste and two flatmates who adored him.

Two months in, he even had gotten a mini job at the convenient store just down the street. His salary wasn’t the highest, but he could contribute to the rent and grocery budget at least a bit (even after hefty protest from Ten and Johnny). Life was good, but there was still this nagging thought in the back of his brain.

What if he was unable to find someone to permanently adopt him?

His time at his friend's place was nearly up, he had been here for nearly five months already. It wasn’t that he didn’t try. Oh, boy, did he try. Going on several dates and meetings, arranged by various online sites and agencies to find someone he could picture a future with. There had been a few potential candidates in the past, but none of them made the cut in the end. It just never felt “right”.

There was, of course, the option to continue living with Ten and Johnny, but he knew for a fact that they would want to start a big family eventually and he did not want to delay those plans. They had discussed it before and Johnny was more than willing to sign him under his name to keep him safe, but Jungwoo really didn’t want to be a burden. He felt like one enough already.

The front door opening shook him out of his reminiscent thoughts and his head snapped to the doorway. The clock now read 4:57 pm.

He realized he was still just in his joggers and a dirty, old shirt. His hair fluffed up from the good sleep, with the fur on his ears sticking out in every direction and the couch still a mess from his nest.

For a second he forgot that he could just take a big whiff of the air around him to smell if it was just Ten or Johnny coming home early and not some intruding guest.

So that’s what he did.

He smelled Johnny’s expensive cologne, with the underlying smell of rich, dark oak-wood, the tall man’s natural smell. He smiled, knowing that it was just his friend, and decided to finally get up.

Once upon his feet, he stretched once more, groaning to the sound of his bones popping in place. Since he was no longer sitting in his little mountain of blankets he could feel the crisp air surrounding him creeping up his skin. It sure has gotten colder in his three hours of unconsciousness.

He heard the tall man taking off his shoes, hanging his coat on the rack and putting his keys in a little dish on the side of the shoe rack. After a bit of shuffling, probably to put on his house slippers, he walked through the doorway into Jungwoo’s sight.

Johnny was wearing his usual business attire. Form-fitting black dress pants paired with an expensive but still subtle belt and a crisp white dress shirt under a black blazer. His black hair was lightly combed over to one sight, giving him a boyish, but at the same time somewhat strict appearance. Jungwoo could see a shiver raking through his body as soon as the man had stepped fully into the room.

“Woo what the fuck?!”, were the first few words the tall male uttered,” It’s cold as fuck in here! We do have heating you know? And why are all the curtains drawn?”

Johnny shook his head and made his way over to the glass-front to put the curtains back in place and to close all of the windows as well as the balcony door. The effect was instant, as the room brightened up quite a bit from the direct sunlight.

After finishing his task he turned back around to face the puppy-boy once again, taking in his disheveled appearance.

“You fell asleep didn’t you?”, he bemused with a slight smirk.

Jungwoo ducked his head slightly, his floppy ears shifting back just a bit. “Maybe,” he began, “I was so tired from my morning shift and I just wanted to rest for a bit, I didn’t think I’d sleep so much …” A loud grumble interrupted his little ramble. His hands unconsciously went to his tummy. Oh right, he was still starving.

Johnny just chuckled. “It’s alright puppy, just maybe don’t open up all the windows at once next time you take a nap, so we don’t freeze to death when we come home.” With an exaggerated wave towards the kitchen, the man slowly began walking to his designation. “Now, let’s get some food in you, ok? I’m starving as well and you know how happy Ten gets when we have fresh food when he comes home.” Jungwoo did not have to get told twice, he loved cooking with his friend.

He smiled and nodded enthusiastically, making his fluffy brown hair and ears bop up and down. His tail began to wag slowly “I’m just gonna clean up real quick, then I’ll help.”

Johnny smiled back at him, nodded and stepped into the kitchen to prepare everything for his desired dish.

The puppy moved his favourite pillow back into his room, fluffed up the sofa cushions and folded the blankets to neatly lay them back in their designated basket at the foot of the couch. Satisfied with his work he joined Johnny in the kitchen and they both started to prepare their meal.

* * *

Ten joined them about an hour later, tired to the bone from his job, but happy to come home to fresh food and his two favourite people in the world. They quickly set the wooden table inside the kitchen and started eating.

While eating they all talked about their day. Jungwoo talked about annoying customers he had to deal with during his shift at the store. Ten also chimed in with some funny customer service anecdotes as he worked in a pretty high-end boutique and just because people had money it did not mean that they’re nice. Quite the opposite actually.

Johnny listened to them and laughed along until it was his turn to talk about his day.

He revealed that he had been able to leave early today, as he had just hired a new personal assistant last week, who was conveniently an old friend of his. He described him as “clumsy but incredibly hard-working and charming” Said male had been able to efficiently help the CEO with the horrendous amounts of work he had to face that day. Jungwoo nodded along, listening attentively. This man seemed like a nice person who could make his friend’s job easier.

“I actually invited him for dinner on Friday, if that’s alright”, Johnny said after finishing his food. His smile was just a little bit awkward, his gaze not meeting any of the hybrids.

Jungwoo’s eyebrows scrunched together in slight confusion. It was Tuesday so that there was still more than enough time to prepare, but Johnny never invited guests without asking him or Ten first. He shared a small look over the table with the cat. “I mean, yeah sure honey,” started Ten, “Is there like any special occasion to celebrate or is it just a dinner to get to know your friend?” He reached out, taking Johnny’s hand in his, feeling the nervousness radiating off the other.

“Well, you see, it’s just, he’s a really great guy, he’s so kind, I mean, he’s still pretty clumsy and makes weird noises sometimes, but he’s still a very important person to me and …”

“Ok, I’ll stop you right there,” Ten interrupted the taller man's ramble, “Just spit out what you want to say.”

Jungwoo eyed the scene curiously. What had gotten his friend so riled up?

Johnny took a deep breath. “Alright, the thing is, the leasing contract for Jungwoo is nearly up, right? And he needs someone to either lease him again or adopt him since he doesn’t want to be adopted by us.” Hearing these words made Jungwoo flinch back slightly. That was not true, he just wanted them to have their own life. “Johnny, I …”, he began with a slight waver to his voice. Again it was Ten who stopped him from speaking further. The black cat put his other hand on the other hybrid’s forearm, rubbing it lightly.

“Shh, don’t worry pup. We know how you feel. Mister Rock-Sensitive over here just doesn’t really know how to phrase things, aren’t I right love?” The last bit was directed to Johnny, in a rather aggressive tone of voice, who began to become flustered.

“Of course, no, that came out wrong, I’m so sorry Woo, you know what I mean, right?” He desperately looked over to Jungwoo, who just nodded, feeling a bit better but still slightly uneasy.

Johnny took another deep breath.

“Ok so here’s the deal. Lucas is a really great guy and one of my best friends. I trust him, like, a lot. He’s a Bachelor living alone in a really big apartment just one block away from here. I asked him if he ever thought about adopting a hybrid since he has been alone for quite some time now and he said not until recently. I told him your story Woo and he actually agreed on signing the leasing contract for you, with your consent of course. The dinner on Friday will be the perfect chance for you to get to know each other. If you would actually get leased and potentially adopted by him, you could stay in the neighborhood, keep all your friends and your job and I just think it’s just such a great opportunity and yeah …”

Johnny’s voice trailed into silence, his lips slightly quirked up, a hopeful glimmer in his eyes.

While Ten looked at him rather unimpressed, Jungwoo tried to take in all of the new information. A guy he had never met basically agreeing to lease him and let him move in with him, all without knowing him. On the other hand, he was Johnny’s friend and the CEO had said that he trusted him.

For a span of maybe 30 seconds, the repetitive splashing of water inside the dishwasher was the only thing to be heard throughout the whole apartment.

After his little internal battle, Jungwoo’s eyes turned up to meet Johnny’s.

“Alright, I mean, it’s just one dinner. If I don’t like him, I can still just refuse, I guess.”

Johnny whooped at Jungwoo’s statement, throwing his hands in the air.

“Wow, great job babe, you’re such a matchmaker.” Said Ten rather sarcastically, but still with a genuine smile on his lips, “Oh would you look at the time! It’s actually time for you two to clean the kitchen and for me to take a bath, good luck boys.” He stood up, kissed Johnny on the cheek, ruffled Jungwoo’s hair and made his way to the bathroom, tail, and hips swinging dramatically.

For the whole duration of time that it took to clean the kitchen, Johnny raved about Lucas to Jungwoo. The puppy-hybrid was quite smitten with how excited his friend got over the prospect of him getting potentially adopted to someone so close to the CEO himself.

This night, after finishing his tasks, watching TV and cuddling with the guys and doing his nightly routine before bed, Jungwoo lay awake in his big bed with his mind wandering.

What if that Lucas guy was actually as great as Johnny described him? And what if he really really wasn’t and Jungwoo hated him the second he stepped into the flat? Or what if he smelled bad? Or what if Lucas didn’t like Jungwoo?

His thoughts continued to spiral. At some point it had gotten so ridiculous, the puppy decided to put on some random podcast on Spotify to silence his thoughts and get some sleep. He pulled out his special Airpods and snuggled in his favourite blanket.

LeVar Burton talking about a paper tiger was the last thing he heard before finally succumbing to some much-needed sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Friday came much sooner than Jungwoo had anticipated.

He had continued the week with his usual routine. The only break from eat, sleep, work, cuddle with his roommates, repeat had been when he had met up with Taeyong on Thursday and told him about Lucas. The white cat had been elated that Jungwoo was able to stay in the neighborhood, but also voiced his concern about this person who was practically a “stranger” to all of them except Johnny.

Jungwoo had felt warmth around his heart at that. Taeyong never stopped looking out for him. He had soothed Taeyong’s worries with a promise of texting him right after the meeting. This had seemed to ease the cat’s mind at least a bit and they moved on to a different topic.

Now it was Friday afternoon. Ten had taken a day off from work to prepare everything for the dinner. Jungwoo had again been working the morning shift, so he was available to help as well. Even though Ten could be quite fussy, they made a good team.

By 6:30 pm the flat was squeaky clean, the table was set with their finest cutlery and the food sat ready and hot on the stove. It was just a matter of minutes until Johnny and their guest for the night would arrive from work.

To say Jungwoo was nervous was an understatement. Sure, he had his fair share of meetings with potential adopters, but this felt more important. This was Johnny’s friend.

He had put extra effort into his appearance today.

His sandy blonde hair was curled slightly, so it bounced along with his ears during every move. He decided to go for quite a soft look since that was his aesthetic most of the time anyway.

For a top, he wore his favourite baby blue oversized sweater. It was one of the softest pieces of clothing he owned and Ten had once said, that it brought out the light brown colour of his fur. He paired it with some black ripped skinny jeans. Of course, he could have gone full-on softie and wore leggings, but he wanted to throw in some other flair, basically show that he had more sides to him than just the docile soft hybrid.

On his feet, he wore his favourite white fuzzy socks. They gave him comfort, made him feel warm and secure, something he desperately needed in a nerve-wracking situation like this.

His ears and tail were both brushed and properly groomed, making his fur shiny and very soft to the touch. Last but not least, he had put on some basic makeup, just to elevate his features.

Some brown eyeshadow and a bit of shiny lipgloss and his look was complete.

Jungwoo had looked himself up and down in the big mirror in his room. He was nervous, but also excited, throwing himself a quick peace sign with a little pose in the mirror giggling to himself before heading out to the living room, where Ten was already moving stuff again.

That had been about half an hour ago. Now his nerves threatened to get the best of him. He was sitting on the sofa nervously bouncing his leg up and down. The soft, ambient background music Ten had put on earlier didn’t do anything in calming his roaring brain.

What if he doesn’t like me? What if he thinks I’m ugly? What if he doesn’t like dogs?

His train of thought was interrupted by a hand gripping his knee, stopping it from bouncing.

“Pup”, Ten said, “There’s no need to be so nervous.” The black cat took a seat right next to him.

Ten was wearing all black tonight. Black turtleneck, black jeans, black socks, everything black. Paired with his black hair and equally as black ears and tail, the smaller man looked like a true creature of the night, but in the best way possible. The all-black look was just tastefully interrupted by some golden earrings, a delicate golden necklace, a belt and of course his promise ring.  
Johnny had the same one, they got in on one of their short-trips to Europe.

The cat patted Jungwoo’s knee. “It’s going to be alright Woo. You know we would never force you into anything. Just see this as an open opportunity. Besides that, you know that Johnny has a good taste in people, he’s together with me after all!” When Jungwoo looked Ten in the eyes, he could see so much love and honesty, but also the slightest bit of humour, swimming in them.

The cat grinned. “A little birdie also told me that this Lucas guy is hot af, so even if you don’t work out as people, maybe you could get laid at least.!”

Jungwoo gasped at that. It sure had been a while since he got some, but for Ten to propose to use their guest, and more importantly Johnny’s friend, as a fling was not in his interest.

He wasn’t a prude by any means. As a young hormonal man, he enjoyed having sex, thank you very much, but the circumstances weren’t appropriate in his opinion.

He still decided to mess a bit with his friend. “You know Ten”, Jungwoo began, pretending to be serious, “It has been a while. I’m still young, but I won’t have this body forever.” The puppy gestured down his front with one hand.

He couldn’t suppress the mischievous smile that made it on to his lips any longer and in a breathy tone, he continued: “What I would give to feel some strong, manly hands gripping tightly on to me. Feel a thick, long …”

With a shriek, Ten slapped his free hand over Jungwoo’s mouth, who couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Ten took his other hand from his knee and dramatically clutched the fabric of his turtleneck. “Excuse me, I am your mother!”, exclaimed the smaller man in an exaggerated tone, “How dare you talk that filth to me you heathen. As the ruler of this palace, I sentence you to one round of extreme tickle torture!”

Jungwoo was now clutching his stomach from laughing so much. Ten always knew how to take his mind off of things, even when his methods were sometimes a bit unorthodox.

Speaking of the Cat-Hybrid, he had taken his hands off of Jungwoo and was positioning himself at the other end of the couch, ready to pounce. On all fours, butt and tail in the air and eyes with dilated pupils focused on the still giggling Jungwoo, the Hybrid looked more animal than human. If Jungwoo didn’t know better one could think Ten was trying to seriously attack him.

He calmed down a bit and braced himself for the attack when the front door opened.

Ten immediately dropped his attacker mode, smoothed out his clothes and hair and seated himself beside Jungwoo, trying to look as nonchalant as possible.

Like a wave crashing down on him, Jungwoos nerves came back. He smoothed over the fur of his ears, ruffled his hair a bit and ultimately put his hands in his lap.

There was some shuffling, jiggling of keys and some quiet conversation to be heard from the entrance area.

Johnny was the first one to step into the room. “Hey honey, hey Jungwoo.”, the tall man greeted the duo on the couch smiling, “It smells wonderful in here.”

He made his way to the backside of the sofa, standing behind Ten and dropping a kiss on the hybrid’s head. Ten let out a small noise of content at that. Johnny placed his hands on the shoulders of the smaller man and turned his head back to the entrance.

Jungwoo hadn’t been able to focus on anything else than the moving shadow in the entryway. The guy seemed to fiddle around bis his coat between all of the other jackets, so Jungwoo wasn’t able to see his face. But he did seem quite tall.

And his smell.

Holy, his smell.

Being so used to Ten and Johnny’s smell, as well as everything else in the apartment, the new scent basically punched him in the nose.

Lucas smelled like a road in the middle of the woods right after a summer-thunderstorm. When the asphalt is still wet, radiating heat in the air, creating a dusky fog, dousing everything surrounding it in a cloud of almost mythical dust. The deep and earthy smell of the trees and the whole forest surrounding it intertwining together to create an aroma that’s so intense, one could not help themselves but take a deep breath in to savour the almost tasteable scent.

So that’s what Jungwoo did. He took a deep breath of the wonderful smell and almost immediately a shudder went through his whole body. It took all of his willpower not to close his eyes and relish in the aroma he could taste it in the back of his throat. If he took another big whiff he was sure that he would get lightheaded.

Ten, sensing Jungwoos odd reaction, put a hand on his biceps. “Are you alright pup?”, the cat questioned quietly, concern lacing his voice. The Puppy-Hybrid turned to face him, eyes half lidden, mouth just the slightest bit opened.

Just as he was about to speak, a voice behind him caused him to close his mouth, widen his eyes and abruptly turn back around.

“Uhm, hi guys. My name is Lucas, it’s very nice to meet you all. Thank you for the invitation, it’s an honour to be here.”

Lucas stood in front of the IKEA shelves on the wall.

He was wearing his work attire, which consisted of a dark blue suit, with a stark white dress shirt underneath.

His hair was a dark brown and styled in a similar way to Johnny’s, just a bit longer. His skin was a beautifully rich dark honey colour and he stood nearly as tall as the CEO himself.

The smile on his full lips was just the tiniest bit awkward and his big brown eyes shifted nervously between the people in front of him.Not really knowing what to do with his hands, he just clasped them behind his back, making him look a bit like a lost, smartly dressed student.

Jungwoo couldn’t help but stare. Johnny had mentioned that his friend was good looking, but this guy was a snacc if he’d ever seen one. Big hands, a sharp jawline, and a cute smile? Sign him the fuck up!

What was just a few seconds in reality felt like hours to Jungwoo.

Johnny seemed completely oblivious to the oogleing from the Hybrid and just happily told Lucas that it was no bother and introduced them starting with Ten.

Smooth as ever, Ten introduced himself and made some polite Smalltalk.

Then it was Jungwoo’s turn to talk.

“Uhm hi, m-my name is Jungwoo, nice to meet you.”, the puppy stammered, inwardly scolding himself for sounding so insecure. It wasn’t his fault Lucas was a hottie with an incredible smell. He turned his eyes towards his lap.

Lucas' eyes had turned to him, softening at his introduction and he responded with a genuine smile on his lips: “Hello Jungwoo, I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m gonna be honest, I’ve been pretty excited to meet you.”

The honesty of the statement made Jungwoo blush. He didn’t really know why he was acting like a blushing virgin in front of this man, he usually wasn’t like that. But here he was, cheeks pink and trying to get out a normal-sounding response. He forced himself to look Lucas in the face and spoke. “Yeah, I’ve been pretty excited too.”

‘Good job Woo’, he internally patted his back, ‘answering without stuttering.’

Luca’s smile deepened at that, his gaze growing even fonder.

The sound of two hands clapping together snapped them out of their staring contest.

Johnny was nowhere to be seen and Ten was standing up. Both of the men looked at him with wide eyes.

The cat just smirked. “Perfect. Now that we all know each other, how about we eat before the food turns into mush. Follow me into the kitchen kids.”

With these words, Ten turned and marched into said room, where the sound of a wine bottle being popped open could be heard. Johnny must be in there too.

For a few seconds, neither of the two remaining men moved, unsure of how to proceed.

Lucas apparently decided to make the first move. He coughed awkwardly into his fist and walked beside the still seated Jungwoo.

“Shall we?”, he asked, gesturing to the kitchen. Jungwoo just looked at him for a second. Those brown eyes were hypnotizing. He quickly shook his head and stood up.

“Yeah, let’s go, just … follow me.”, the puppy proclaimed already walking towards their destination. Inwardly he cringed at his awkwardness. If he hadn’t been so focused on beating himself up over his conversation skills, or the lack thereof, he would have heard a red-eared Lucas mumbling “Cute” under his breath while he followed him inside the kitchen.

The dinner had been a success.

It did not proceed without any hitches, but that was fine. If anything, it made everybody relax a bit more.

Johnny was able to break his plate while waiting a bit too eagerly for his turn to get some potatoes. It slipped out of his hands and shattered on the floor. He was apologizing profusely to Lucas, but the man just laughed and told him that it was fine and that he’s a clutz himself, as Johnny should know. Of course, Ten made Johnny clean up the mess immediately.

The dinner continued with Jungwoo spilling some sauce on himself, only to be handed a napkin by Lucas, which made him blush once again.

Lucas spilled some wine on the table and Ten’s piece of meat had a meeting with the floor after the cat had been trying to cut it.

They all pretty much just laughed at all the little accidents and the conversation flowed nicely. The leasing and potential adoption were not topics of conversation that evening, which Jungwoo was very thankful for. It did seem a bit early for that.

Jungwoo didn’t get to talk as much with Lucas as he would have liked to. The dark-haired man interested him on a level, he could not quite explain yet. He continued to throw little glances towards the man, just to look at his profile and take in his appearance.

After the dinner was finished and everybody was sated and full, Lucas announced that it was time for him to leave. Even though it was Saturday the next day, he had some plans and wanted to get a reasonable amount of sleep.

“Oh that’s alright, it was lovely to meet you, we should definitely do that again sometime!”, Ten exclaimed with a smile. He turned to Jungwoo. “Woo, could you please bring our guest to the door? Johnny and I will start with the dishes in the meantime.” There was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes that didn’t go unnoticed by Jungwoo.

Before he could say anything, Johnny whined. “Baby, I wanted to see him out. Could you not start without me? I promise I won’t run off.”

Ten turned to his boyfriend, his lips stretched just a bit too far for a genuine smile. “Oh honey, but I REALLY need your help and you will see Lucas again on Monday. I’m sure Jungwoo will do just fine without you, isn’t that right Woo?” He turned back to face Jungwoo. His eyes were still shining with something the puppy couldn’t quite pinpoint.

“It’s alright Johnny,” Lucas said, causing all eyes to turn on him, “He’s right, we’ll see each other again in three days. But I can find the way out myself, please don’t worry about me.”

He smiled and tried to stand up.

“Oh no, you’re our guest and we are proper hosts. It’s no bother really, right Jungwoo?” Ten turned to Jungwoo again and his face left no room for discussion.

“Uhm sure, yeah, it’s no problem at all,” began the Hybrid, “Ah, just follow me please.”

Jungwoo stood up, walked to the entry of the kitchen and waited patiently for Lucas to get up and say his goodbyes to Ten and Johnny. The latter had admitted defeat and just hugged his old friend before he turned to open the dishwasher with a sigh and start the cleaning.

After Lucas was finished he turned around to look at Jungwoo, smiled and said, “Ok, I’m done, lead the way please.” He sounded so enthusiastic, Jungwoo couldn’t help but smile. The puppy nodded, making his hair and ears bounce adorably, and they made their way to the front door.

While Lucas was putting on his shoes, Jungwoo stood leaning with his left side on the wall, arms folded and facing the door. It took the taller man multiple tries to tie his fancy dress shoes. The laces kept slipping through his fingers.

‘Is he nervous’ thought Jungwoo, ‘Why would he be nervous?’

When Lucas stood back up he smiled and huffed out a short laugh. “Well, that took longer than expected.” He eyed Jungwoo somewhat carefully. The puppy returned his gaze, suddenly feeling bashful. Why did this man he just met have so much of an effect on him?

For a few seconds, neither of them said anything.

‘Maybe awkward silence could be our always’ thought Jungwoo, almost blushing at the implication of his thought.

“Well,” began Lucas, speaking softly and the tiniest bit unsure, “I really had a lot of fun tonight. I didn’t get to talk with you as much as I would have liked though …”

His right hand went to the back of his head, scratching his scalp nervously. “But, uhm, I mean, you could maybe give me your number and we could meet again and talk some more. Only if you want to of course!”

The last part was spoken in quite a hurry, almost to make sure Jungwoo knew he had the choice to say no. And Jungwoo was aware of that.

Just because this handsome man with a heavenly smell made him blush like crazy in just a few hours of knowing him, he was free to refuse to ever see him again.

Feeling a bit brave, Jungwoo brought two fingers to his pursed lips, pretending to contemplate. He wanted to see the reaction of the taller man. Even though he was basically intimidated by this man’s good looks, Jungwoo couldn’t just not tease him a bit.

The reaction was almost instant. Lucas visibly deflated, his smile went down just a bit and his eyes shifted to his shoes. Just as he opened his mouth, probably to apologize, Jungwoo beat him to it.

“Yeah, that would be very lovely.”

Lucas' head snapped up it was almost comical. His eyes wide he eyed the now smiling puppy. Instantly his face brightened. “Ok, great, yeah, that’s great, I … thank you.” the man stammered. He turned around, fiddled a bit with the pockets of his coat to retrieve his phone and open the number pad. “You can just like, type in your number, I’ll send you an emoji so you know it’s me.” He was very enthusiastic about the whole ordeal and waved the phone pretty close to Jungwoo’s face.

The puppy carefully took the phone out of his hands, noticing once again how big and manly they were. Jungwoo swallowed, shaky fingers typing in his number and handing the device back to the beaming other man. Lucas happily accepted and quickly set a name for Jungwoo’s contact. From his angle the puppy sadly couldn’t see under what name he was saved, he was quite curious about that.

“I sent you a little dog emoji, I hope that’s alright.” proclaimed Lucas.

In just a millisecond his smile fell. “Or was that stupid? I didn’t mean to insult you, it just seemed fitting and …”

Jungwoo was quick to interrupt the rambling of the brown-haired man.

“No no, it’s fine, it’s … cute. .. Yeah, cute.” Jungwoo said, feeling his cheeks turn pink once more. Why couldn’t he just react normally goddamnit?

Lucas relaxed and returned to his beaming smile. He nodded and turned around to put on his coat. Jungwoo just watched him, his eyes never leaving the attractive male in front of him.

Once all set, Lucas seemed to be ready to leave.

“Well, that’s it then, I guess.” He turned to face Jungwoo once more. “Thank you for the dinner it was delicious. I’m looking forward to talking more with you. I’ll text you when I get home if that’s alright?” He looked down at the puppy.

Jungwoo nodded. “Yeah, I would really like that.” He smiled softly up to the taller.

Lucas returned the smile, gaze softening again as it did earlier in the living room.

A pan or pot falling to the ground shook them out of their staring trance. They could hear Ten cursing not so silently and Johnny trying to apologize.

They both chuckled.

“So, Goodnight Jungwoo. Thank you for having me. I hope to meet you again soon.” Lucas smiled at him before turning around and opening the door.

“Get home safe!”, Jungwoo told him.

Lucas turned around one last time, beaming at the Hybrid. “ I’ll text you when I’m home, bye.” He waved with his free hand and exited the flat.

When the door fell into place, automatically locking itself, Jungwoo found himself staring at it for a couple more seconds.

‘Well, that happened.’

With his thoughts whirling wildly together, he made his way back to the kitchen where Ten and Johnny were nearly finished cleaning everything and packing away the leftovers.

“You guys need any more help?”, the puppy asked.

Ten turned around to face him. “No no, we’re fine Woo. You can go to bed if you want, I bet you have a lot to think about.” He winked and turned back around.

Jungwoo just shook his head and made his way into the bathroom. Ten really doesn’t miss anything.

While brushing his teeth, he realized how tired he was. Not really the kind of physical exhaustion after some hefty activity, sort of more like mentally exhausted. It had been quite the day. After finishing up his nightly routine, he fell into his bed. With his hand, he searched for his phone. It had to be here somewhere.

He hadn’t touched it since joining Ten in the living room earlier this evening.

Just a few missed texts, mainly from Taeyong asking him if he was alright if the guy was a douche, etc. He answered his friend quickly, assuring him that he was ok and that the guy was not only hot but also really nice.

What caught his attention were the two texts from an unknown number.

His heart skipped a beat. He knew who it was from.

With shaking hands, he opened the message.

  
  
  
  


_from: Unknown number_

[puppy emoji]

Hey Jungwoo, It’s me Lucas, but you probably knew that already because of the emoji haha

I just wanted to say, I really enjoyed tonight and I would love to see you again and get to know you more.

Only If you want of course!

Ok, I’m going to shut up now.

Sleep tight and sweet dreams!

  


Jungwoo read the message multiple times with a big smile on his face. It was just, so, Lucas.

The guy typed the way he spoke. Jungwoo giggled slightly and decided to respond.

_to: Lucas (tall, dark and handsome)_

Hey Lucas,

I really enjoyed tonight too and would like to meet you again, to maybe talk some more.

Just text me when you’re free.

Goodnight and good dreams to you too x

Jungwoo contemplated quite some time if he really should send the x or if it was to forward. He then decided that it probably wouldn’t hurt since Lucas couldn’t see him blushing via text. And obviously no one would see the name he decided to create for the taller man, it just fitted perfectly.

After sending the message, he threw his phone beside his pillow and burrowed his head in it.

What had he gotten himself in to?

Too tired to continue thinking about the events of the evening, Jungwoo once again took out his Airpods and started up the podcast with the short story about paper tigers. Even though he didn’t get to listen to the whole story the last time, he found himself liking it quite a bit.

And like earlier in the week he snuggled into his bed with LeVar Burton telling the magical tale of a paper menagerie, especially a tiger made out of old newspaper, right into his ear, sending him in a deep sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

In the following three weeks, Lucas and Jungwoo met multiple times.

The first time was just a few days after the dinner and Lucas had taken him to bowl.

It had been fun, but they quickly realized, when you’re only two players, there was not that much time for talking. So they decided to cut their game short and venture into a nearby bar.

Jungwoo had learned a lot about Lucas that evening. That he’s originally from China but came here to live his dream of becoming a singer, which didn’t quite work out. Luckily he saw the ad Johnny had put out to find a new personal assistant. As soon as he had walked in the office of the CEO and Johnny immediately recognizing him, he was sure he would get the job. Not because of some friendship benefits, but because he was a hard worker and Johnny knew that.

Jungwoo had listened to his story attentively, chiming in when it seemed appropriate. After finishing, Lucas prompted Jungwoo to tell him about himself.

So that’s what the puppy did. Lucas listened just as attentively as Jungwoo did during his story.

It had been a really fun meeting/date.

The following meetings/dates had also been incredible, full of fun and stories. Jungwoo felt himself loosen up around the third time of meeting Lucas and was able to control the constant blushing around the fifth meeting/date when he got to see Luca’s flat for the first time.

But there was one thing that bugged Jungwoo. Their meetings were never labeled as dates or anything really. Of course, he wouldn’t say that he was “in love” or anything, but he was interested. He just did not know if Lucas was interested in him in that way as well. Hell, he didn’t even know if the dude was gay!

He decided to put his raging hormones aside and just go with the flow.

His emotional crisis aside, he did take a liking to the young man and the discussion about the leasing contract sometimes briefly came up.

During one dinner, nearly exactly three weeks after first meeting him, Lucas brought it up once and for all.

They were in his apartment and had ordered Chinese takeout.

The apartment had the same, basic layout as Johnny and Ten’s flat since it was just a block away and apparently rich people’s houses didn’t vary very much.

But it was definitely a Bachelor’s place. Mostly very modern and sleek, black and white furniture. Some framed smears labeled as “Modern Art” on the wall and a fridge with barely food to survive in. It wasn’t ugly, it just wasn’t homey in Jungwoo’s opinion. It almost didn’t seem lived in.

Right now they were sitting on basic white chairs around the round glass table in front of the large window-wall, enjoying their food and company. It was dark outside and the lights of the city beneath them gleamed with multiple colours, really giving off that “Big-city-vibe”.

They were both wearing rather casual clothing. Jungwoo had on a soft white t-shirt and a pair of black leggings. He had been wearing a grey hoodie on top earlier, but the place was warm enough for just a shirt. His hair and fur were free of product, making them incredibly fluffy. Lucas was wearing a blue, washed-out shirt and some grey joggers. They had both quickly realized that they did not need to dress to impress when meeting each other and in this home environment it didn’t matter at all.

They had just turned on one of the ceiling lights, wanting to keep the atmosphere rather cozy.

The TV was softly playing some random show in the background.

Lucas put down his chopsticks.

“Woo, I wanted to ask you something.” he started. Jungwoos heart melted a bit. It had been approximately one week since the older had started calling him by his nickname. The first time had been an accident and Lucas had apologized profusely, thinking he had overstepped a line. But Jungwoo had just laughed and told him that it was alright, that he liked it. Since then Lucas had been pretty much exclusively calling him “Woo”.

“Go on, I’m all ears.”, saif Jungwoo, also putting down his chopsticks.

“We have been meeting up for a while now and we know each other pretty well. You’ve been to my place multiple times, I mean, we’re here right now right?”, a nervous chuckle came out of Luca’s mouth, his eyes fleeted to his food on the table. Jungwoo waited patiently for him to continue.

“And your leasing contract with Johnny will expire in like a week. So, basically, my question is, would you be ok with me leasing you and you potentially moving in with me? You know you’re free to do as you please and I would never force you into anything, but I thought this might be the right time to bring it up since the time is running out, you know, and …”

“Lucas,” Jungwoo interrupted the other man’s stream of consciousness.

In all honesty, the puppy had been waiting for the other to make a move. He felt safe with Lucas, he trusted him, and if the man was willing to lease him and let him live with him, he would definitely not pass that chance.

Lucas lifted his eyes to meet Jungwoos, looking like a deer in headlights.

Jungwoo just smiled at him reassuringly.

“If you’ll have me, I would love for you to lease me and move in with you. This flat needs some flair!”, he said, emphasizing the last past rather jokingly and gesturing around the room with his arm.

Lucas mouth opened and closed for a few seconds, gaping like a fish.

“Are you … I mean are you sure ?” He looked at Jungwoo as if he didn’t believe his ears.

Jungwoo’s smile fell slightly. Had he interpreted the situation wrongly? His ears on the crown of his head flattened.

“Oh, well, I mean, if you don’t want then that’s no problem, I’ll find …”

“What? No! No no no, that’s … I didn’t mean it like that!”, Lucas interrupted Jungwoo. He promptly stood up, rounding the table and standing in front of a now really confused Jungwoo.

“I meant are you sure you wanna live with me? I’m kinda clumsy and I work a lot and, I mean you said it already, I’m terrible at decorating my flat.” he scratched his neck, a nervous habit of his.

Jungwoo looked at him for a second.

“I mean, yeah, like I said, if you’ll have me, I’ll move in.”, the puppy said slowly.

Lucas' hand left his neck, now hanging by his side as he looked at Jungwoo in awe.

“That’s so … I’m so …. Why can’t I speak?” Lucas gripped his face with both hands, throwing his face towards the ceiling. Jungwoo just continued sitting there, being confused. Was Lucas happy? Or was he not? The puppy couldn’t tell from his behavior. His ears began to shift around nervously.

With one swift motion, Lucas brought his head back to the center to look at Jungwoo. He took a deep breath and continued to speak.

“I’m not good with words and I’m sorry about that. I’m really really happy you said yes and I will do my best to make your time here as memorable as I can. Can I hug you ?”

He ended his little speech with an unsure spreading of his long arms, inviting Jungwoo in, but also giving him the option to reject the contact.

As if Jungwoo would reject a hug. He was a slut for a good cuddle session and Lucas seemed like a good cuddler, with his long arms, his strong body, and heavenly scent.

Jungwoo just smiled, happy that Lucas wanted to lease him, nodded and stood up to wrap his arms around the torso of the man in front of him. His head buried itself automatically in the junction between Lucas’s shoulder and neck. His scent was so strong here, it was driving Jungwoo crazy. The puppy nuzzled his nose a bit on the sliver of exposed skin around the neck-hole of the shirt and sighed happily. If he could, he would probably stay like this forever.

The noise of Jungwoo’s content sigh seemed to wake up the frozen Lucas. He had been a bit overwhelmed with the sudden outburst of affection, but he definitely liked it.

He began closing his arms around the smaller hybrid, effectively caging him in his arms. One arm went around Jungwoos' tiny waist the other around his torso so that his hand was resting on the puppy’s shoulder. He felt him nuzzle his neck and deemed it ok to just nose the hybrids hair a bit, carefully avoiding his ears as Jungwoo had told him how sensitive they were.

He couldn't pick up scents like a hybrid did, but he always thought Jungwoo smelled extremely good. He’s not able to pinpoint what it was, but it was a very clean, almost cottony smell. Jungwoo smelled to him like he looked. Soft. Soft, but still with a hint of sass. Lucas also let out a pleased sigh over the intimate contact. This just felt so nice.

The hug continued for was longer than a normal hug would.

After some time they did eventually separate and both of them were equally embarrassed. They didn’t know why they were so embarrassed, they just were. After finishing their food, they said their goodbyes, which resulted in another, really long hug.

When Jungwoo arrived home, he took off his shoes and coat and walked into the living room to see Johnny and Ten cuddled up on the couch, watching a movie. They greeted him and in response, he just started squealing. Slightly alarmed Ten untangled himself from his boyfriend and asked Jungwoo what the matter for his outburst was and if he was alright.

The puppy sat down in one of the chairs and told them how Lucas had asked him to lease him. He maybe had left out the detail of the hug, but that was something just for himself and Lucas to know about.

Johnny had hugged him and Ten even started crying. This was the best kind of scenario that they thought would happen. Ten even agreed to help Jungwoo turn Luca’s place into a real home, with his consent of course.

This night, after his skin-care routine and before going to bed, Jungwoo sat down on his desk and opened his laptop. He had looked up some tutorials on how to fold an origami tiger. Earlier this week, he had bought the special paper for it.

Slowly following the instructions on the screen and concentrating hard, Jungwoo managed to make his first tiger. The paper animal was red and had a few too many bumps, but in Jungwoo’s eyes, he was perfect.

He placed him on his window stilt, closed his laptop and hopped into bed. Grabbing his phone from his nightstand he checked his messages. A few were from Taeyong, wishing him all the best and expressing the need to meet this “Lucas man” he was raving so much about. Jungwoo quickly thanked him and promised to meet up soon. The last text was from Lucas, whose name he had changed since their last meeting.

  
  
  


_from: Lucas ♥_

Hey Woo, I just wanted to tell you again, how excited I am for you to move in.

It’s going to be so much fun!

I thought about going to the general center on Sunday to make a new leasing contract.

Would that work for you?

Goodnight, sleep tight and don’t let the bedbugs bite :p xx

_to: Lucas ♥_

Yeah, I’m pretty excited too, Ten cried when I told him!

Sunday sounds good, can’t wait for all the paper stuff to be done.

Goodnight you lame noodle xx

  


Jungwoo smiled. The x’s at the end of their texts had quickly become a thing. They texted mostly daily now, always updating the other what they’re up to.

Jungwoo sighed.

Other people (Ten) would say it’s a crush, but it was really not. He just really liked Lucas as a person. Most importantly, the other male had never expressed anything other than platonic, friendly feelings towards him.

Jungwoo was aware that Lucas smelled good and treated him right and he was ridiculously attractive to anyone with eyes, but absolutely no crush here. And yeah, maybe the hug had been quite long and Jungwoo had never felt so safe in his life, but it was still just a friendly hug. He would never dare to destroy the bond he was forming with Lucas because of some stupid feelings (that he didn’t have !)

He closed his phone and put it back onto the nightstand. Today was Friday, which meant just two more days until he was legally leased under Lucas’s name. Even though he didn’t know why the thought excited him.

He happily closed his eyes, nuzzling his pillow and hoping to dream of a tall, dark and handsome man and maybe even some paper tigers.

* * *

The re-leasing process on Sunday went through without any problems and was a lot less glamorous than it was advertised. Jungwoo and Lucas arrived at the General-Adoption-Centre quite early in the morning in order to avoid a long period of waiting.

The woman who had handed them the files could have not been more uninterested in them.

They went into a quiet corner and filled out all the forms, including a signature from both hybrid as well as human.

Finishing up and reading everything had taken nearly an hour, but they knew it would be worth it in the end. They took their singed papers back to the bored lady in the front. The woman had checked all of the pages once more, before stuffing them in a yellow filecard and typing away on her computer. The printer had soon begun humming in the background.

She handed a copy of the contract to Lucas as well as a freshly printed certificate, verifying him as Jungwoos' temporal owner.

Without even really looking up from her the lady had said in a very monotone voice: “Congratulations. If there happen to be any complications, feel free to contact us. Have fun with your Hybrid, sir.” After uttering the last syllable the woman had zoned in completely on the pc again, probably playing some kind of game.

Jungwoo and Lucas had taken this as their queue to leave.

Once outside, they laughed about the strangeness of the whole situation. They decided to get some ice cream before heading home. While Jungwoo had picked a vanilla flavour with every imaginable topping, Lucas decided he just wanted dark chocolate.

‘How fitting’, Jungwoo thought, immediately shaking his head to get rid of the thought. Friends don’t think about each other like that, right?

Lucas was adamant to pay and the puppy relented, letting the taller man pay for their sweet treat. Since they had gotten there by train, they rode back together and just split up to go their still separate places.

Lucas wanted to do some last-minute cleaning and Jungwoo had to pack his stuff up in all the boxes he got the day before.

“Well, this is me,” Lucas had awkwardly stated after arriving at his front door, which soon would also be Jungwoos front door. “See you later.”

The tall man has waved at the hybrid and quickly ran upstairs.Jungwoo wasn’t upset per se, but after the moment they had shared last Friday night he had at least expected a short hug.

Shrugging the puppy made his way over to his still apartment.

‘Maybe he just remembered something important and had to leave fast.’

Deciding not to dwell on it too much, Jungwoo entered his flat, ready to tackle the big task for the day.

It did take some time, but after five hours of sorting, packing and even throwing some things away, all of Jungwoos belongings that he would take to Luca’s place were packed up and ready to be moved. Minus the furniture, but a moving company should be there any minute to take care of that.

The process had been nothing short of emotional. His two now-former flatmates had cleared both of their schedules to help him. They all found one nostalgic thing after the other.

Ten and Jungwoo filled Johnny in on stories from the center, they found souvenirs from the few trips he had taken and forgotten that he had bought them. At one point Ten had started crying, it was all quite a lot for the sensible little cat to take in. Luckily Johnny was used to the emotional outbursts of his small boyfriend, so he had handled the situation with ease, even though his eyes had been suspiciously shiny as well.

Then it was time to move.

The company arrived and began to deconstruct his bed and his big wardrobe. Things like his desk and dresser were small enough to take them to the van as they were.

The three friends loaded up Johnny's car to the brim and to their surprise, everything fit in, so they wouldn’t have to be making a second trip.

Arriving at his new home, Jungwoo was sent to go up and notify Lucas about their arrival while the other two would be loading up the first load for the elevator. Lucas had opened the door, smiling from ear to ear. Jungwoo couldn’t help but return that smile.

“You ready to move in Woo?”, he asked the hybrid, still smiling.

Was he ready? Probably.

“Well, it’s too late now right?”, Jungwoo joked.

Lucas's smile fell a tiny bit. “I mean, you can still stay at Ten’s and Joh…” Jungwoo slapped a hand over the taller man's mouth.

“Shut up you softie, it was a joke. I’m very excited to move in with you.”

The hybrid's voice became softer towards the end. He took away his hand and looked at Lucas whose face was overcome with an ever so fond expression.

“I’m very excited for you to move in too.”, he quietly confessed, as if it was a secret.

Jungwoo’s heart fluttered at that …in the most friendly way possible!

This was just a friend, being excited about living with another friend, nothing more, nothing less. Just dudes being bros.

But still, the puppy found his brain void of any words to say. Lucas' eyes were scanning his face, stopping at one particular part. His lips.

“Get your asses ready boys, the first load of stuff is coming up the elevator!”

Ten’s loud shout broke the moment. Jungwoo quickly took a step back. When did they get so close? Both of them smoothed over their clothes unnecessarily.

“Right, stuff, elevator, I … let’s go!”, Lucas exclaimed in the next moment, walking by a still a little shell shocked Jungwoo and making his way towards said elevator.

Jungwoos heart was beating wildly.

Just guys being dudes, right?

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. He needed to concentrate on getting his stuff in Lucas’s … well, his and Lucas’s new apartment. He took a deep breath and made his way to the elevator.

The moving process had been a success.

Lucas had only dropped three things, none of which broke, which was fantastic for the statistic.

Since his new room was basically like his old room, Jungwoo had decided not to change the arrangement of his furniture. It was literally his old room, just in a different building.

After everything had been set up and put into place, except for a few stray boxes with decoration that he would eventually unpack in the course of the next few days, he was all set.

After a teary goodbye from Ten and Johnny and a promise, that he would always have a home in their home, he was finally alone.

Jungwoo wasn’t sure were Lucas was at the moment, but that wasn’t his main concern right now. He looked around his new/old room.

His mostly white furniture had been set up by the builders and arranged to his wishes.

Standing in the doorway, on the wall to his right stood his IKEA dresser with some candles and framed photos on top. Right beside it was his beauty table with the princess mirror.

The big double bed, with the big grey padded headrest that was surrounded by fairy lights, stood as the centerpiece on the wall straight on. It already had all his pillows, including his favourite purple one, and all of his blankets on. A small white nightstand with a lamp on each one was on either side of the bed

Continuing to the left was the wall with the window and his white curtains. Directly under said window was his desk with some work stuff and his laptop on it.

Finally, on the wall to his left was his body length mirror in the corner, as well as his big white wardrobe as the centerpiece of that wall.

Most of the furniture had been a gift from Johnny, as the man was making enough coin with his job to support multiple households (which he did, he was sending money to his family and donated regularly). At first, Jungwoo had refused of course, but after some persuasive talking from Ten and some surprisingly effective puppy eyes from Johnny, they had gone furniture shopping together.

Ten had been in his element, asking Jungwoo question after question and deciding on furniture according to his answers. He was really good at interpreting Jungwoo’s aesthetic, so they were soon good to go with everything to set up the puppy’s room.

And now he was here. Same room, different building, different “owner”.

Jungwoo still hadn’t been able to really wrap his head around the idea that he was no longer legally bound to Johnny (and ultimately Ten), but he was sure that it was just a matter of time.

His hands gripped onto his restless tail, smoothing over the fur. He was nervous, this was still new territory for him and Lucas. Sure, they liked each other (as friends!), but living together was a different level.

He was ripped out of his thoughts by the sound of Lucas cursing loudly.

Curious, Jungwoo dropped his tail and followed the sound just to find a swearing Lucas drenched in ketchup standing in the kitchen, the bottle still in hand. It took all of his willpower not to laugh.

“Eh,” the puppy started, amusement eminent in his voice, “What exactly are you trying to do here tomato man?”

Lucas' head shot up to look at him looking surprised. He must have not heard Jungwoo coming in. The tall man gestured to the pan that was sitting on the stove.

“I was trying to make fried rice, you know, since you’ve worked so hard today I thought I’d do something nice. But of course, why would go anything to plan, the ketchup bottle just fucking exploded everywhere and …”

Lucas couldn’t even finish his rant as Jungwoo was unable to contain his laughter any longer. The hybrid doubled over and just wheezed, tears streaming down his face.

What kind of situation was that?

At first, Lucas just looked at him rather unimpressed, but then he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. Soon enough both men were practically rolling around the floor laughing so hard they could feel their intestines cramp.

Lucas' laugh died down sooner than Jungwoos.

And if Jungwoo had been able to open his eyes, he would have seen Lucas looking at him with the same fond expression he had earlier in the doorway.

After a short time, the puppy seemed to also gain back control over his limbs. He wiped away the tear tracks on his cheeks and smiled up at a still staring Lucas.

“Ok loser, let me help you make something edible.”

Lucas just nodded, starstruck by Jungwoo’s outburst. The hybrid didn’t seem to notice and just ordered him to clean up his mess.

With a fake salute and a very loud “Aye aye captain” Lucas began wiping away the ketchup stains.

Jungwoo just shook his head and grabbed a clean pan from the cupboard. This was going to be interesting.

Later that night, when Jungwoo was alone in his room, lights off except his fairy lights around the bedrest and all cuddled up in bed, he recalled the events of the day.

The way Lucas had looked at him, the delicious way the male always smelled, the delicious way this whole apartment smelled, the way they had laughed together until their stomachs had hurt too much and …

The puppy grabbed a pillow from beside his head and smothered it onto his face.

‘Just friends’, he reminded himself ‘just bros.’

The saying goodnight had been quite awkward again. Lucas had just wished him a good first sleep in the new space and nothing quite more, hurrying in his own bedroom, mumbling something about getting up early and work. This was all way easier via text. But then again, there was also no physical contact through the phone. Maybe Lucas just needed time.

Jungwoo sighed and finally removed the pillow from his face, able to breathe again. His hair was fanned out like a halo framing his head and his puppy-ears wiggled slightly.

Friends hug each other all the time and he and Lucas had already hugged twice, so maybe the businessman was just shy.

“Yeah that’s probably it”, mumbled Jungwoo. He would just give Lucas some time to adjust to the new situation, just like he himself needed to adjust. He just hoped Lucas wasn’t someone who didn’t actually like cuddling and their two hugs were just a one-off kinda thing. Jungwoo lived for physical affection, the puppy DNA in him demanding pets and cuddles regularly.

Thy hybrid decided he had pondered enough about the situation and would actually finally go to sleep, as he was very tired from the hectic day.

He turned off the fairly lights and didn’t bother closing the blinds, causing the moonlight to illuminate the room in a cold, white and blue shine.

Jungwoo turned to his right side, looking at the first small paper tiger he had made. Since that day, he was practicing almost every day, as it brought some surprising joy to him to create different animals out of paper. The first one was special to him. It reminded him of his favourite short story and the important message it spread.

Sighing one last time, Jungwoo closed his eyes and nuzzled into his pillow.

Maybe one day he will show Lucas all of his paper animals.


	5. Chapter 5

The following two months had been good.

Truly, they were … good.

Jungwoo and Lucas had been able to fall into somewhat of a routine. More often than not this routine was changed because of Jungwoo’s ever-changing shifts at the convenient store.

But they did try to have some dinner together at least twice a week, which usually worked. They had also established a housekeeping plan. Jungwoo was responsible for the kitchen and the laundry, while it was Lucas' job to keep the floors clean and take out the trash. This also worked for the most part.

Moreover, Ten and Jungwoo had been given free rein by Lucas for redecorating the main living area.

They had decided to get rid of the black leather sofa, but kept most of the white or black furniture, as it was still in fabulous condition. The old couch had been replaced with a soft, grey sofa made out of fabric, together with a big chair made of the same material. They had bought a mustard coloured rug and decided to throw out the “Modern Art” to replace them with some indie prints they had found on the internet. More and more plants made their way into the apartment, as well as candles, books and a wide variety of pillows and blankets. Jungwoo loved to be cozy, sue him.

When they had revealed the space to Lucas, after literally kicking him out of his flat for one entire day, the man was astonished.

“You did so great!”, he had exclaimed towards his friends, beaming, “I love what you made out of this.”

Ten had excitedly clapped his hands while Jungwoo had grabbed onto his tail, head turned downwards and blushing. Even though they had lived together for quite some time now, sometimes Lucas still made him blush like a schoolgirl.

That evening they had invited Johnny over to join them, ordered pizza and beer and officially blessed the place as the new living room.

Now, as mentioned before, things were going good between Jungwoo and Lucas. There had been no big fights, only minor quarrels that were cleared right away.

It could have been so perfect.

But there was a thing. It was just one thing. But this specific thing bothered Jungwoo to no end.

Lucas didn’t touch him.

Not in a perverted way (and he would never want that because BROS), but in general.

Every time Jungwoo thought the moment had finally come, that there would be some kind of skin contact in whatever way, Lucas quickly distanced himself.

It was as if the long hug two months ago had never happened.

And Jungwoo was growing tired of it. Real tired. He was a patient man, but everybody had their limits. They had a “housekeeping-plan” for god's sake, but a touch to the shoulder still seemed too far for whatever reason.

This problem had been silently eating away on him. He had decided not to tell the others at first, as he thought this problem would just resolve itself, but apparently, it wasn’t.

During the last two weeks, Jungwoo had distanced himself from Lucas. He had made sure to not cross him in the hallway or run into him in the kitchen. When the man had asked if he was alright one night after knocking at his bedroom door, Jungwoo had just shrugged and said: “Yeah, pretty busy recently.”

He could see the rejection on Lucas’s face as he had just nodded silently and closed the door again. It had broken Jungwoo’s heart to see him so defeated, but it was for the better.

One evening, the loneliness got the better of him and he called Ten if he could come over to his old flat. Of course, Ten was ok with it. He didn’t even bother telling Lucas that he was going. The two hadn’t really been speaking for about two weeks anyway.

‘It’s for the better Jungwoo’, the puppy had thought to himself, ‘This way it’s way easier if he kicks you out.’

The hybrid was anticipating it, really. It was probably only a matter of time. If Lucas had wanted a silent roommate who just did their assigned chores, he would have gotten exactly that. With quite a heavy heart Jungwoo made the short walk over to Ten’s flat.

Ten had welcomed him with open arms, pampering him the whole evening and showering him in attention and physical affection. At some point, Jungwoo broke. He had cried into Ten’s shoulder while the other hybrid just held him close. For once, Jungwoo was thankful that Johnny wasn’t home. After his crying had turned into silent sobs, Ten took his face into his small hands and forced him to look into the feline eyes of the smaller male.

“And now tell me what’s going on.”, demanded Ten calmly.

And oh boy did Jungwoo tell him. All the frustration that had been building up inside of him for weeks was spilling out of his mouth like a running faucet. It felt like a much-needed release.

After finishing his rant, he looked Ten in the eyes once more.

“Oh puppy, you must have been so alone.” Ten brought both of his hands to his ears, slowly massaging them. Jungwoo just whined and let himself fall forward, his head again on the shoulder of the black cat.

“But, I don’t get it.”, started Ten, slightly startling the puppy who was just beginning to get sleepy from the gentle treatment. “Johnny told me Lucas loves physical affection. Craves it even. Johnny and he cuddled in their college days all the time! He told me that was why he suggested him as your new leaser in the first place! That and of course you would still live nearby and ….”

Jungwoo didn’t hear the rest of Ten’s monologue, overcome with a sudden numbness.

Lucas liked physical contact. He probably liked cuddling. So why wasn’t he doing it with Jungwoo?

The answer was clear to the hybrid.

Lucas simply didn’t like Jungwoo.

All the nice things he had said to him, all the nice things he had done to make Jungwoo comfortable. Everything had been just a facade?

But why? Not to hurt Johnny’s feelings by telling him how disgusted he actually was by the hybrid? The mere thought of Jungwoo making him gag?

Suddenly the puppy felt like he was going to throw up.

He needed to get out of here.

Sitting up quickly he took one last look at Ten, who had been droning on about something during his whole thought process. The cat fell silent.

“Woo? What’s going on? You’re so pale? Do you need anything?” Ten was starting to worry, the puppy just kept staring into space, unresponsive to his attempts of talking to him.

He tentatively touched the boy's arm.

This seemed to make Jungwoo snap out of it. He took one last look at his friend, mumbling something along the lines of “Sorry” and “Gotta go” before literally running to get his shoes and coat on.

“Jungwoo wtf”, Ten was overwhelmed. What had gotten into the puppy?

Jungwoo wasn’t responding to anything Ten tried to say to him. He was out of the door before the cat even reached him.

“At least text me when you’re safe!”, was the last thing the hybrid heard his friend shout at him before he ran off into the icy winter night.

He had been running for ca. five minutes, when he had found himself in a small park.

It was dark, the streetlamps barely able to light up the given path, not even reaching two meters beside it onto the trees. Luckily the moon was shining bright even through the layers and layers of city smog.

Lucas hated him.

That was the only coherent thought circling in Junwoo’s brain.

The man who he had been living it for two months actually was disgusted by him.

Jungwoo let his head fall into his hands.

Why?

Why him?

What did he do?

He was growing so frustrated, his extreme sadness slowly turned into anger.

Why was Lucas such a coward?

Why didn’t he just tell him and kick him out?

His thoughts just continued to spiral.

Overcome with incredible rage, Jungwoo ran to the nearest tree to land a hard punch on it. It hurt. It hurt, but it made him feel. So he did it again. And again.

He punched the tree with all of the force he could muster until he was physically unable to throw one more punch.

His lungs burned. His knuckles were bloody and raw, blood even stayed on the bark of the tree, right where he had punched off quite a bit of it. The hair on his head and the fur on his ears glistened with sweat in the cold moonlight. Tears and snot streamed down his face. He hadn’t even noticed that he had started crying again.

He caught his breath.

With the arm of his jacket, he did his best to at least somewhat clean his face.

His mind felt numb, like wading through some gooey substance, unable to grasp onto anything solid.

This was his mindset under which he decided to go home.

“Huh, home”, he sneered, walking back slowly to the block with the man he wanted to see the least at the moment.

  
  
  


Jungwoo was sitting at the glass table in the dark.

He had come home to an empty, dark flat, which he had welcomed very much considering his current state.

His shoes and coat were left just thrown into the entryway without a thought as the hybrid made his way to the bathroom. He had desperately needed to disinfect his bloody hands.

It had stung like a bitch while he cleaned it, but while he was hurt and sad, he didn’t want to catch some sort of infection. There were some medical gauze bandages under the sink which he had used to patch up his knuckles to the best of his abilities. They would bleed through eventually, but he would just change them if he needed to. After putting on a fresh shirt and some joggers and just chugging his sweaty clothes from the day to the bottom of the laundry bin, Jungwoo had poured himself a glass of water in the sink and sat down at the round glass table.

There he was, sitting with his water and his thoughts.

From time to time he slowly took a sip, not keen on drinking anything, but needing something to physically grasp on to.

He could feel his knuckles bleeding again, soaking the gauze in the red, warm liquid.

That was how Lucas had found him.

The male swung the front door open, recognizing Jungwoos coat and shoes on the floor immediately. He just let out a breathy “Oh thank god.”

Lucas just threw his clothes on the floor as well, to get to the hybrid faster.

“Jungwoo!”, Lucas exclaimed, walking into the living space, recognizing Jungwoo’s dark silhouette sitting at the table. “Thank god you’re ok, I was so worried! Why did you just leave without telling me, I thought something happened. Why is it so dark in here, did you forget to turn on the lights.”

In his frenzy of talking the tall male didn’t notice the lack of response from the hybrid. He quickly turned on the light, gasping when he took in the disheveled appearance of the other male in front of him.

“Oh my god Woo you’re bleeding, holy shit what happened?” Lucas began to make his way over to the puppy, only to stop dead in his tracks when he heard a faint, but strong “Don’t” from the other.

“What do you mean ‘don’t’? You’re clearly hurt and you need to change those bandages, I think I still have some under the sink, we could … “

Lucas was interrupted by Jungwoo harshly putting his glass down on the table, wincing at the noise. The hybrid slowly stood up.

This was the first time Jungwoo properly looked Lucas in the eyes. The smaller man’s gaze was full of ice, cold and distant.

“Just don’t. You can stop pretending to care now, it’s ok I get the message. I won’t be bothering you for much longer.” Even his tone was ice cold, sending shivers down Lucas’s spine.

The older male was confused. What was going on?

“Woo, what are you talking about?”

At this, Jungwoos' gaze, as well as the previously neutral, cold expression on his face, morphed into something else. Something feral, wild and dangerous. The hybrid could feel his hand tightening on the water glass.

“Don’t fucking ‘Woo’ me, only my friends get to call me that and clearly, you’re not one of those people.”, he spat at Lucas, making the other male flinch back as if he was hit.

“Jungwoo, what on earth are you talking about?” Lucas had the audacity to sound hurt, fueling the rage of the other man.

“What I am talking about you ask? Maybe think about it if you know how to do that.”

Jungwoo was really feeling the rage now, basically snapping and growling out his words, baring his teeth ever so often. If he hadn’t been so blinded by his rage, he would have noticed Luca’s eyes shimmering with unshed tears, his face distorted into a mask of desperation.

“Please, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Just tell me what’s going on.”, Lucas quietly pleaded.

And Jungwoo told him.

“We have been living together for two fucking months and not once during this whole time did you touch me. And I mean at all. Not even a fucking pat on the back. I just thought you needed time at first, but you never touched me in any way, never! Here I was, thinking, oh ok, he’s probably not the touchy type, sucks, but shit happens right? Wrong! I think, ok, well, give a man his distance, that’s clearly what he prefers, only to be told by my friend that you actually live for physical contact. Do you even know how that made me feel ?! I’m a fucking puppy hybrid for fuck's sake, it is literally in my fucking DNA to cuddle.”

While practically screaming the last part, he tugged on his ears for emphasis, only to howl because of the pain. His eyes shutting on their own because of the painful stimulation.

Lucas was crying now, his face distorted in pain as well.

“Please, Jungwoo, just stop, you’re hurting yourself.”

Jungwoo took a deep breath, calming himself. The extreme pain had caused most of his anger to vanish. What was left made him feel drained, sad and so vulnerable. Lucas could see Jungwoo visibly deflate and it broke his heart even more. The only sound resonating in the flat was Jungwoo’s ragged breathing.

The hybrid drew a deep breath and forced himself to look at Lucas, taking in the man’s disheveled appearance. Even though he should hate this man, he could feel his heart hurt on behalf of Lucas.

“Just please,” Jungwoo began, voice now quiet, hoarse and raw from all the screaming he did earlier, “Tell me why. Why do you hate touching me so much? Why do you hate me so much? Do I disgust you? Was it something I did or said or anything? I promise I won’t tell Johnny and Ten, I just want to know the truth, please.”

By the end he had tears running down his face, his voice not more than a pained whisper.

“Are you done?” asked Lucas, voice indecipherable.

“Uhm,” sputtered Jungwoo, eyes to the ground, ears pressed flat on his head. He could feel his heart breaking. He would never get an answer. “I guess so… I will go now, you don’t have to see me again. The papers … “

Before he could go on further, he was surrounded by warmth and the scent that had robbed him his breath the first time he smelled it. What was going on?

Lucas was hugging him.

After months without any kind of physical contact, the human was hugging the hybrid hard to his chest. One arm around Jungwoo’s waist, the other around his head, actually pressing it onto his torso. His mouth was right beside Jungwoo’s ear.

Jungwoo was confused. Why was he doing that? To pity him? He let out a humourless chuckle and began to wiggle around in an effort to escape.

“Don’t. Don’t force yourself, I don’t want your pity, I … “

“Shut up.”

Jungwoo froze. Did he hear correctly? After some beats of silence, he continued his wiggled escape.

“Uhm, no, really, just let me go, I’ll … “

“I said shut up!”

The harsh tone made Jungwoo freeze up for real. He didn’t expect Lucas to get aggressive. He was not ready to actually fight, what …

His thoughts were cut short by Lucas pressing the hybrids face tight into his neck.

“You have no idea,” the human started, voice wavering dangerously “You have no idea how much it cost to hold back. How many times I punched my pillow because I was just so close to touching you, but chickened out the last second.”

Now Jungwoo was just confused. What was Lucas talking about? The hybrid could feel his knuckles pulsating where they were squished between his and Luca’s body. The blood began to roar in his ears.

“I wanted to touch you so bad Woo, I really did, but I held back because I thought you didn’t want to be touched. You never made a move and when I asked Johnny what I could do, he told me about your ears, that they were so sensitive and I just figured you didn’t like to be touched in general.” The taller man’s voice had a wet tinge to it now. Jungwoo could actually feel some of the tears falling into his hair.

“I feel like the biggest idiot ever. I am so so sorry Woo, you have to believe me. I would never torture you like this on purpose. I am neither disgusted by you nor do I hate you. Quite the opposite actually. I am so damn smitten with you, when you stopped talking to me I felt like a spear was pierced through my heart. I am such a big idiot, I should have just talked to you and not assumed and … “

His voice trailed off into sobs. He nuzzled Jungwoo’s hair slightly.

“Please, I know I don’t deserve it, but please give me a chance to make it right puppy.”

The last part was what shook Jungwoo out of his shocked trance. He didn’t even realize he had started crying again.

He had always been a sucker for this particular nickname.

The things Lucas said sounded a bit too good to be true, all of this because of a simple misunderstanding? But Jungwoo decided to push his doubts into the back of his mind and let his heart speak for once.

“Do you really mean that?”, he asked in a tiny voice.

Lucas gasped, his grip around Jungwoo just tightening the slightest.

“Of course. Every word. I would never hurt you on purpose I’m so so sorry.”

Jungwoo could hear the sincerity in his voice. Deciding it was time to take some action as well, Jungwoo slowly shifted his arms from between them to Lucas’s back, effectively hugging him back. He let himself melt into the embrace.

“I’m sorry as well.”, he started “I just assumed things after hearing this fact about you. I think we both could have handled that whole situation better.” The puppy pressed his face further into the neck of the human.

“I guess yeah.” Lucas chuckled breathily, voice hoarse from all the emotions and the crying. “I’m still sorry though, for putting you through all that …” His voice trailed into silence. Jungwoo just hummed, having closed his eyes in content.

At some point, they started softly swinging from side to side, almost lulling Jungwoo into sleep. It had been quite the adventurous last few hours.

After what seemed like a long time and simultaneously not long enough, Lucas was the first one to shift. Jungwoo just sleepily whined at that. Lucas chuckled.

“Come on Woo, we have to get ready for bed and patch up your hands properly.”

He backed up enough to look Jungwoo in the eyes, which were closed halfway.

“Common Woo, we can talk in the morning.”

The human gripped the hybrid loosely on his forearm, trying to drag him to the bathroom.

Jungwoo whined again. “Noo.”, he said in a breathy tone.

Lucas cooed at the sleepy puppy.

“Yes, now come Woo on you lazy punk.” His tone was still airy and light, afraid to shatter the delicate atmosphere surrounding them.

“Mpfh”, grunted Jungwoo “Don’t call me that. Call me the other one! The other name.”

Lucas looked at the hybrid confused. What other one, what other name?

Then it clicked.

Lucas smiled.

“Common puppy, let’s get you ready for bed.”

Jungwoo made a happy noise back in his throat and latched onto Lucas’s site, who happily accepted the hybrid, glad over the close proximity of him.

They went to the bathroom together, patching up Jungwoos wounds, brushing their teeth and doing their skincare. All the while constantly touching each other in one way or another.

They separated to shower and change into their respective sleeping clothes.

This is how Jungwoo was now sitting in Lucas’s room, on top of the older one's bed.

His room was very minimalistic, pretty much like the living room had been, just with a bed in the center. Sleek black and white furniture and white sheets.

Jungwoo was wearing his favourite shirt to sleep in. It was completely washed out and had a fading gudetama on the front. He decided not to wear pants, just throwing on some fresh boxers, as pants made mainly his tail feel restricted at night.

He just sat with his legs crossed, fiddling with the fur on his tail. His head snapped up, when Lucas came out of his ensuite bathroom, rubbing his hair with a towel. He was wearing a black shirt and some tight boxer briefs.

Jungwoo was sure that if he had been in a more stable mindset at that point, he would have definitely turned into a strawberry. But as of right now, his only objective was to have Lucas and his smell close again.

“Oh puppy.”, the other male exclaimed, “I thought you had gone to sleep already.”

God, Jungwoo could melt into a puddle hearing the name from the other man’s mouth.

But he was here with a mission.

“C-could I”, he started softly, inwardly cursing himself for stuttering again in front of Lucas “I mean, could I maybe sleep here tonight? With you I mean?”

He turned his gaze to Lucas' eyes full of hope. He hoped Lucas didn’t ask for a reason.

Lucas looked surprised, which quickly morphed into a look of pure adoration. “Of course you can puppy. Get under the covers, I’m just turning off the light real quick.”

Jungwoo’s heart soared. With an excited nod of his head, making his freshly washed hair and ears bounce, he began to slide under the covers, already feeling the tiredness from this extreme day sinking into his bones. He hoped Lucas would join him quickly.

The puppy did not have to wait long. Lucas turned off the lights in the room and drew his white curtains in front of his window. Then he slid right next to the barely conscious Jungwoo, who was lying on his left, facing him.

“Come here puppy.”, Lucas said softly before drawing Jungwoo close.

The hybrid let out a small happy grunt, rested his head on the other man’s broad chest, swung his arm over Lucas’s middle and intertwined their legs. With Lucas’s arm around his back, Jungwoo felt safe in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time.

And the scent was like a drug. In Lucas’s room, everything smelled like him so much more, which was heaven for Jungwoo, turning his tired mind into a pleasant mush. The puppy tried to get even closer, burying his nose into the human’s chest. He felt it shake with some silent laughter.

“I got you pup. Go to sleep. We’ll talk about everything in the morning.”

Jungwoo was too tired to answer properly, so he just let out some affirming grunt.

It could have been his sleep drunken mind playing tricks on him, but he could swear that he felt a small kiss on the top of his head. Too tired to even to even think about it, Jungwoo let the crashing waves of sleep take him under.

He was dreaming of two paper tigers chasing each other, one blue, the other red, always running around, never quite touching. For some reason, this made dream-Jungwoo sad and he was happy when the dream changed.

This night he got some of the best rest he had in years.


	6. Chapter 6

Their dynamic changed quite drastically after the dramatic night.

First thing in the morning, right after waking up, they had talked about everything, playing with open cards and telling the truth. They promised each other to talk more and assume less. All while still cuddling in bed.

After that, Lucas had to go to work, but not without hugging Jungwoo for nearly five minutes straight and promising cuddles for later that evening. They also changed the puppy’s bandages together, while the hybrid explained how he got the wounds. He was embarrassed, but Lucas had just shook his head and kissed his bandages, causing Jungwoo’s face to burn up into metaphorical flames.

After Lucas had finally gone to work, Jungwoo went on a search for his phone. When he found it, he had 37 missed calls from Ten as well as 52 text messages, reaching from death threats to pleads to return home. He had called him on the spot, receiving a fifteen-minute lecture on why he was the worst friend in the world and a generally terrible person as well as five minutes of ugly crying from Ten. When the cat had calmed down, Jungwoo had explained the situation.

Ten had told him that while he was still a bit angry, he was glad that Jungwoo was safe and cleared up the misunderstanding with Lucas. After a lengthy goodbye and a promise to soon come over again, they had ended their call.

Jungwoo’s mind was still kind of floaty. He had received more body contact in the last eight hours than he had in the last eight weeks. He was happy, but also the tiniest bit conflicted.

Did dude-bros really crave each other’s touch so much, regardless of their basic needs?

And did friends get butterflies in their stomach when their homies kissed their bandaged knuckles?

The hybrid had decided to file these thoughts away for the time being. He wanted to enjoy his newfound proximity with Lucas and he wouldn’t let some stupid thoughts get in his way.

With his freshly set mindset, he had turned on some music and decided to read.

The following few weeks were pure bliss for Jungwoo.

He and Lucas cuddled every night in front of the TV and more often than not did the puppy sleep in the same bed as the human.

Jungwoo even allowed and taught Lucas how to touch his ears without hurting him. Now it was one of the hybrid’s favourite things. Lucas gave incredible ear rubs.

The biggest difference made the little touches though. A fleeting hand on the shoulder, a quick back hug while cooking, all those things brightened both of their days incredibly.

The pair was visibly more relaxed and clear-headed since the chance in dynamics.

It was around one month into their new routine of touching, that Jungwoo was able to accept his growing feelings for the human.

He had a lengthy discussion with Ten about everything and he was sure that he was at least a little bit in love. The romantic in him, of course, hoped that Lucas would feel the same way, even when he had no way of knowing for sure. But there were little indications that the human at least was somewhat interested in him.

When Lucas hugged him, he didn’t hug him like some sports player dude hugged his team member after a successful game.

He hugged him like Johnny hugged Ten, tender and careful after the latter came home after an exhausting day of work.

When Lucas ran his hand through his hair, it wasn’t in the way a homie ruffled another homie's hair to show affection.

He softly ran his hands through the different strands, just like Jaehyun when he winded his hand through Taeyongs soft hair, careful not to rip out any strands or tug too hard.

So yeah, there were implications, but no hard proofs.

But Jungwoo had decided (with some pushing from Ten) that he would confess to Lucas. The hybrid felt safe and comfortable with the human. Even if the older should reject him, Jungwoo was sure they would work something out.

He just wasn’t prepared to deal with the scenario he was presented with.

Jungwoo was working the morning shift at the convenience store. It had been a slow day and there were just two hours of his shift left.

He had spent most of the time daydreaming, as he planned to confess tonight.

Earlier this morning, he had texted Lucas, telling him that he would prepare dinner for the two of them. Lucas' response had been excited and laced through with x’s. Jungwoo had been ecstatic, it was going to be great.

He continued to daydream when the bell of the front door chimed.

Ugh, customers.

Jungwoo stood up straight, smoothed over his apron and put on his fake customer smile.

What he saw though made him smile for real. The dreaded customer coming through the door was Lucas in full-on business attire. This morning he had put on Jungwoo’s favourite navy suit after some pleading from the puppy’s side. The colour just really brought out his eyes, in Jungwoo’s opinion.

The older male lingered at the door for a second, checking his phone.

The hybrid was just preparing for a little scream to mess with the older when he froze as the next person made their way into the store.

It was a small female, also in office-appropriate clothing, with long, styled black hair and red lipstick. She was nothing short of beautiful. And she was … talking to Lucas?

Yeah definitely.

Lucas had been waiting for her at the door and now they made their way together to the snack aisle, smiling and laughing with each other.

Jungwoo felt an ugly feeling in his chest.

His heart felt like it was restricted with some coarse rope. His lungs felt heavy, his breaths becoming more and more shallow. Deep inside his mind, he knew he was overreacting, this woman could be whoever. But in the heat of the moment, all Jungwoo felt was deep, brooding jealousy.

Who the fuck was this bitch?

And why the fuck was she acting all smiley with HIS human?

Touching him and fluttering her eyelashes, what does she think she’s doing?

And why on earth was Lucas letting her?

Even playing into her little minx facade?

Jungwoo was boiling. He had to calm down, otherwise, he would not be able to ring them up with a straight face.

Quickly overlooking the entirety of the small store, the puppy noted that Lucas and the woman were the only people inside besides him. He quickly made a beeline towards the back.

There he stood, between shelves stacked with various boxes, the smell old and dusty, trying to control his hurting heart and irregular breathing pattern.

‘She could be his girlfriend.’

The thought he had tried to avoid so hard was hitting him full force now. And it made sense.

Lucas liked going to work. Why? Probably because of his girlfriend!

Lucas liked pretty things. The lady? Absolutely beautiful!

Lucas liked to cuddle. The woman? Probably world record for best cuddler!

He knew he was getting kind of ridiculous, but it just made so much sense. Lucas had a girlfriend and was very happy with her, taking her on cute snack breaks, probably paying for hers too. 

And Jungwoo?

Jungwoo was his loyal puppy. His dog he could cuddle with when he was home.

Nothing more.

A cloud of dread settled over the puppy-hybrid, making his expression as gloomy as ever, ears and tail hanging sadly.

He had been so excited for tonight, had envisioned the outcome in many ways, even the negative ones. But Lucas having a girlfriend and being at least somewhat straight hadn’t been one of his scenarios.

Jungwoo drew a deep breath in the vain attempt to calm his hurting heart. Well, he still had to do his job.

He exited the storage room and went back to his original position behind the register.

Lucas and the woman were nowhere to be seen. On one hand, Jungwoo was relieved he didn’t have to deal with them. On the other, he was twistedly curious about this woman that was making his crush smile and laugh so much.

He sighed. Ten was right. He was a masochist in that sense.

The next two hours of his shift had been tough. Time seemed to go by just half its normal pace. Jungwoo had wrapped himself in a cocoon of numbness to the best of his abilities.

He knew he had promised Lucas to talk to him and not jump to conclusions, but he couldn’t help but overthink. So he decided to distance himself from reality, wrap a layer of protective numbness around his brain, at least until the end of his shift. When the time to go home finally came, Jungwoo had been terrified.

How should he face Lucas tonight?

Should he just play it cool and feign ignorance?

Should he ask Lucas about the woman?

Jungwoo wasn’t sure on how to proceed.

After taking extra long in the changing room, using the bathroom and counting the bills in his cash register, the hybrid had decided that it was time to head home.

He couldn’t avoid the situation anyways.

At home, Jungwoo was still unsure about what to do.

He took a moment to gather his thoughts.

Even if Lucas didn’t love him (ouch!) he wanted the human to be happy. And if he was happy with this human woman, then that was that. Jungwoo would need some time to heal and overcome his crush, probably sleeping on Ten and Johnny’s sofa for a few nights, but he wanted the best for Lucas, even if that meant that he had to share him. Maybe Lucas would still want to adopt him someday and he could be the family pet and best friend of Lucas and the woman’s children and …

The puppy felt tears cascading down his face. He couldn’t bring himself to bring that thought to an end. It hurt too much. But apparently this was the reality and Jungwoo would have to work with it if he wanted to or not didn’t matter.

He sniffed. Stupid tears. Stupid brain.

Determined he wiped away the tears, forced a smile onto his face, which resembled a distorted mask more than anything, and made his way over to the kitchen. He had promised Lucas some dinner, so he was going to make him dinner.

Maybe he would talk about his girlfriend if Jungwoo asked nicely.

Yeah, that’s what he was going to do.

Later that evening, when Jungwoo was stirring around in one of the multiple pots on the stove, he heard the front door opening.

Instantly his whole body went rigid. His ears stood alerted on the crown of his head, his tail was straight and tense. This was the moment he had feared since seeing the “couple” in the supermarket earlier that day. Lucas took off his shoes and coat and put on some slippers. He would enter the kitchen in the next few moments, the puppy was sure.

Jungwoo could feel his heart beat in his throat. He felt like prey, knowing the predator was just around the corner and there was no way of escape.

Then he felt two arms circling him from behind, effectively caging him between the other body and the kitchen counter. The hybrid could feel the expensive material of Lucas’s suit jacket chafing the backside of his yellow apron.

Lucas propped his head up on Jungwoo’s shoulder.

“Hi”, the human said lowly, “It smells lovely in here.” As to put emphasize on his statement, Lucas drew a big breath and quietly moaned at the smell, even closing his eyes at the intensity of it.

‘Oh no, this is not good’, thought Jungwoo. He had to get the other man off his back, quite literally, or he would burst into tears.

“U-uhm c-could you m-maybe set the t-table, p-please?”, stuttered Jungwoo.

The puppy could feel Lucas's body stiffen behind him.

“Uh, yeah sure puppy, no problem. Are you alright?”, the human asked Jungwoo, taking his head from the hybrid's shoulder and looking at his side profile. Had he been crying? Lucas' eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

“Pup, you’re eyes are red, are you … “

“I’m fine, I’m fine, just a lot of onions, you know? haha …”, Jungwoo interrupted him, hoping the other wouldn’t question him further.

Even though the older didn’t seem convinced at the puppy’s explanation, he decided to drop it for now. “Okay, I’m gonna set the table now.” Lucas reached over Jungwoo’s head to get some plates. Jungwoo’s breath hitched at that and he was thankful for all the noise on the stove, so Lucas wouldn’t have heard him.

When the older male was out of sight and out of the room to set the table, Jungwoo let out a deep breath, his body slumping forward just slightly.

This was going to be a long evening.

Dinner was good.

After finishing the cooking, the puppy had carefully taken off his apron, leaving him in only in a white shirt and leggings, while Lucas was still wearing his stark white dress shirt and fancy blue pants from work.

During the meal, Jungwoo had been quieter than usual, but Lucas didn’t seem too bothered by it, happily chatting away about his day at work. The hybrid has listened closely, but with not a single word did the older mention the woman.

After eating, they decided to just lounge around some more and drink some wine.

Lucas had cheered to him with his glass, smiling from ear to ear.

“To us”, had the brown-haired male said, voice full of fondness, eyes soft.

Jungwoo had swallowed hard.

“Yeah, to us.”, he had cheered back, rather unconvincingly.

After they had taken the first sip and set their glasses down on the table, Jungwoo decided that it was now or never.

“You know ... “, he started slowly, not having a pre-formed sentence in mind.

Lucas just cocked his head to the side and waited patiently for him to continue. Jungwoo took another sip of wine, eyes on the table.

“I mean, what are your plans for the future?”, the puppy asked hurriedly.

Lucas looked at him confused. Where did that come from?

“My future huh?”, he asked, eyeing Jungwoo carefully.

The hybrid just nodded, still not looking at him.

“Well, I mean, how far are we talking about? Because I do have some plans for traveling and concerning my career and potentially adopting you, only if you want that of course, but there is nothing set in stone yet and … “

Jungwoo’s head snapped up at the last part. Had he heard correctly?

“You want to adopt me?”, the hybrid interrupted him, causing the human to stop talking momentarily.

“I mean yeah, I thought that was pretty clear? I wanted to have this conversation a bit later actually, but now we’re here I guess.”, Lucas chuckled lightly, scratching his nape.

Being able to see past the awkward facade, Jungwoo saw honesty. The man wanted him to stay. His heart grew bigger at that only to be crushed down in the very next second. He looked Lucas in the eyes.

“Is there something else you want to tell me?”, Jungwoo asked, voice calm and collected.

Lucas sputtered at that. How did the hybrid find out?

“I mean yeah”, he started awkwardly, “There is actually something I want to talk to you about, but I don’t know if this is the right time?” He carefully looked at the hybrid, whose face bore a completely neutral expression. Lucas took this as a sign to continue.

“We have been living together for a while now and I enjoy your company so much and I think it is time I’ll tell you something. This could change everything, but it doesn’t have to and I just want you to know that you will always have a home with me, so here goes nothing.” Lucas closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Jungwoo couldn’t stand it anymore.

“You have a girlfriend don’t you?”

The hybrid slapped his hands over his mouth, eyes wide. He didn’t mean to literally shout it out. The other man’s eyes snapped open, confusion rode all over his face.

A few beats of silence.

“What?” Lucas eyed him as if he had grown a second head.

Jungwoo removed his hands from his mouth and the words began spilling out of him.

“I saw you, you know? Today at the convenience store? It was my shift and you came in all happy and I thought oh cool, Lucas is visiting. But then you wait at the door for another person and in comes this beautiful woman, and you look so happy together all smiling and laughing and I just couldn’t believe my eyes, like, you could have told me. It will take some time before I’m over the massive crush I have on you but I want you to be happy and you two are clearly happy so … “

“Wait wait wait what?” Lucas interrupted him, “Rewind please, what was the last thing you said?”

Jungwoo looked at him confused. “Uhm, that I want you to be happy and that I’ll support your rel… “

“No no no, before that.” Lucas had an unreadable expression on his face. A mix of surprise, determination, and confusion.

Jungwoo could feel his cheeks flaming up. He knew what the older meant.

“Ah that.”, the puppy started, eyes wandering to the table again, ears flattening. “As I said, just because I have a crush on you doesn’t mean I won’t support you. It will take some time to get over you, but I will do my best to … “

“Jungwoo”, the hybrid's eyes snapped up to Lucas’s face, tears streaming down the olders cheeks.

‘Oh no, why was he crying?’ thought Jungwoo. ‘I’ve ruined everything haven’t I?’ Before he could open his mouth to apologize, Lucas beat him to it.

“Woo … puppy, you’re so smart but so stupid, you know that?” A watery chuckle left the taller man’s mouth, his voice was breathy and barely audible.

Jungwoo was more than confused and also a bit hurt, to be honest.

“I mean, I am sorry, but I can’t control my feelings and … “

“There is no girlfriend you idiot.”

The puppy blinked at Lucas, ears no alert on his head.

“What?”, he asked slowly.

“I said, there is no girlfriend you big idiot. The woman you saw earlier today is a good friend of mine who just happens to work on a project in the same company as me and Johnny. Because we haven’t seen each other for such a long time we decided to grab lunch together. We went to the store where you work because I wanted you two to get to know each other, as you both are such important people in my life. But when we wanted to pay, you were nowhere to be seen and we just went to the self-checkout. I figured you were busy and I didn’t want to interrupt your work, otherwise, I would have introduced you to her.”

Jungwoo’s mind was reeling. Ok. So. No girlfriend. Alright. Brilliant.

But why was Lucas crying then? Was it because of Jungwoo’s confession?

The puppy just blinked dumbly at the still crying Lucas.

“Uhm ok, so, what’s the important thing you wanted to tell me then?”

As if he was struck by lightning, Lucas sat up straight. He looked at Jungwoo, determination evident and strong in his eyes. The male got up, rounded the table over to the hybrids side and went on his knees in front of him, making the puppy turn sideways in his seat to face him. Carefully he took Jungwoo’s hands in his, bringing his forehead down on them and closing his eyes.

“I wanted to confess to you, but you beat me to it.”, he said quietly.

Jungwoo’s mouth fell open. Had he heard correctly?

“You … What?” the puppy stammered, eyes never leaving Lucas’s head.

The human took a deep breath in and looked up, right into Jungwoo’s eyes.

And Jungwoo? He had always been one of those people who had laughed about movies with extreme cliches about romance. Like fireworks when kissing or seeing stars in someone’s eyes. But right now, he would swear he could see the whole galaxy in Lucas’s eyes. Deep and dark, full of secrets and emotions waiting to be explored. It was incredible.

“I wanted to confess to you puppy.

I love you.

I have probably been in love with you from the first moment I saw you.

I wanted to get to know you, which I did and it just made me fall more. You’re incredible! When I made you cry I wanted to punch myself in the face. I still can’t believe you forgave me and gave me another chance.

You are the best thing that has ever happened to me, baby, and you liking me back is like a dream.”

_Baby_.

Lucas had called him baby.

Jungwoo didn’t know what to do at first, heart pumping wildly, emotions all over each other. Then he hesitantly smiled.

“Do you mean that?” he asked quietly, wanting the man in front of him to repeat the sweet words.

“Of course puppy, every word. You mean the world to me.”

Jungwoo felt Lucas squeeze his hands. He could see the honesty in the other’s eyes. The puppy smiled wider, eyes lighting up with emotions.

“I love you too, so much.”

Lucas' eyes widened just a bit, his lips forming a smile.

“Oh puppy.”

“ No, don’t call me that.” demanded Jungwoo softly “Call me baby again.”

Lucas gasped quietly. He took one hand off of Jungwoo’s and softly laid his palm against the hybrid’s heated cheeks. Jungwoo nuzzled the palm slightly. Lucas gently guided his head down a bit to rest his forehead against the one from the other male. He closed his eyes.

“Baby” he whispered, sending shivers down Jungwoo’s spine and causing his eyes to nearly fall shut.

The older man opened his eyes just a bit and stared at Jungwoo’s lips.

“I’m going to kiss you now, ok?” he asked quietly.

Jungwoo was only able to nod, his wildest dreams coming true right in front of him.

Softly Lucas brought the hand from his hand lower to his face, effectively gripping Jungwoo’s chin between his thumb and pointer finger and slowly guiding his mouth onto the other male’s. It was a soft kiss, barely a press of lips against lips, but Jungwoo knew instantly that he was a goner. His eyes fell shut on their own.

No fireworks or butterflies were trashing in his stomach, just an incredible calmness that washed over him. The kiss represented everything Lucas made him feel. Safe, calm and complete.

Jungwoo sighed and turned his head just the slightest, making the lips slot together more effectively. With a small groan, he felt Lucas press just a bit harder, before drawing back just a few millimeters, making Jungwoo whine from the loss.

“Wow,” he whispered.

“Yeah, wow,” mumbled Jungwoo in response, eyes opening slightly.

After a few beats of silence, Jungwoo decided to take some action. “This angle is awkward. I bet your neck is hurting.”

He drew his head back from Lucas’s momentarily in order to get up, forcing the taller male to do the same. Jungwoo looked up in Lucas’s brown orbs, swimming with love, not minding if he drowned in them.

“That’s better”, the puppy whispered, one hand fisting in Lucas' fancy dress shirt, the other gripping the hair on the back of the taller male’s head, bringing his head back down to his own. This time it was Jungwoo who slotted their lips together, drawing a surprised noise out of Lucas, as it was a firmer press of lips right from the start. The older quickly recovered though, placing one of his hands in Jungwoo’s hair and one on his lower back.

As time moved on, their kisses became hungrier and hungrier, both letting out all of the frustration that had built up inside of them over the whole timespan of knowing each other.

More and more tongue got involved, until Jungwoo’s leg was hooked around Lucas, the puppy nearly sitting on the table, just Lucas’s big hand on his ass preventing him from actually sitting down. They were both making so much noise as well.

After one particularly wild kiss, Lucas drew back, resting his forehead once again against Jungwoo’s.

“Baby, we have to stop. I don’t think I can control myself for much longer.”, he stated breathlessly.

Jungwoo was also panting, drawing his head back just a bit further to look into the others face properly. He looked feral. Hair all messed up from the constant tugging, eyes wide and wild and lips cherry red and swollen from kissing. It was the most beautiful sight Jungwoo had ever seen.

“Then don’t”, Jungwoo whispered.

“Are you sure? We can wait, I mean we have so much t... “

Lucas was interrupted by Jungwoo grinding his hips forward into his own, causing both of them to moan.

“I’m sure, I’ve waited so long for this”, Jungwoo exclaimed breathlessly.

Lucas looked at him for a second, searching his face for any signs of doubt or hesitation, finding none. He grinned.

“Alright baby, jump.” He put both of his hands on Jungwoo’s ass, causing the hybrid to squeak, but do as he was told. Lucas was now carrying him, making Jungwoo feel even hotter. He moaned.

“Please. Bed. Now.” the puppy whispered desperately, already rutting against Lucas’s stomach and hiding his face inside the other man’s neck, sucking and biting the skin there.

“Of course baby, anything for you” the taller male whispered brokenly and began to make his way into his bedroom.

This night was one of the best nights ever for both of them.

After some intense lovemaking, they had fallen asleep, sated and happy in each other's arms.


	7. Chapter 7

Jungwoo was the first to wake up. His sleep had been deep and restful.

He was surrounded by warmth. It was so warm.

The puppy shifted slightly. There was a warm body lying in front of him, his arm around Jungwoo’s middle and feet intertwined. From the smell, he could tell that it was Lucas. Jungwoo was so glad last night hadn’t been a dream.

His aching body and sore lower half were another sign for the night being very much real, but that was beside the fact for now. He was just in his boxers. They had been too tired to put some real clothes back on, so they just didn’t.

The hybrid began to slowly open his eyes. They fluttered because of the sudden light, but he just blinked through it. What he saw made him lose his breath.

Lucas’s face was lying close to his, their bodies front to front.

And he looked ethereal. Doused in the soft, curtain filtered morning light, his face had an almost supernatural glow to it. He looked so young and peaceful, eyes and lips just twitching ever so often due to whatever dream he was having.

Jungwoo took in every detail.

The hair of the older was fluffed up and sticking out wildly in every direction. His big forehead molded into a set of two, strong, dark brows. Underneath were his eyes, closed now of course, but Jungwoo knew, that there was a whole universe behind those lids. He let his eyes trail over the incredible set of full and dark eyelashes, fanning over the strong and defined cheekbones of the male. His gaze followed the prominent nose, ending in a soft curve. Lucas’s lips had to be Jungwoo’s new favourite part of him, now that he has had a taste … Well, his lips and something else, but that's beside the point right now.

He examined the elegant curve of his prominent cupid's bow, his full set of plump lips and last but not least the razor-sharp jawline. Jungwoo bet he could cut up some paper with that if he would try hard enough.

The need to touch overcame him. Now that he was allowed, looking just wasn’t enough anymore.

The puppy freed his right hand from under the covers and smoothed it along the exposed side of Lucas’s face. Touch light like a fairy’s wings to prevent to wake the older male. His fingers explored the lips he so quickly became addicted to and let out a quiet sigh. He wanted more of Lucas’s kisses already.

Suddenly, the flesh under his fingers moved.

“What are you doing puppy?”

Lucas' voice was gravelly, thick with sleep and so … attractive.

Jungwoo hadn’t noticed how his eyes had zeroed in on the other's lips, but now they were quickly looking up to meet the other's gaze. Lucas’s eyes were only half-open, having woken up just seconds ago. He looked at Jungwoo’s face through hooded eyes.

Jungwoo was a bit embarrassed, having been caught staring, but then again, they were still very much just in their boxers and cuddling in bed, so he felt his shame quickly vanish.

“Just admiring the artwork.”, was his cocky response, his own voice still quite breathy.

Lucas chuckled at that, his eyes falling shut once more.

“C’ mere”, he mumbled, opening his arms. Jungwoo quickly took the invitation, basically wrapping himself around the other like an octopus. The puppy tucked his head under the human’s and breathed in deeply. How did he get so lucky to have someone with such an incredible smell?

On the top of his head, he could feel Lucas do the same. He nuzzled inside the hybrid’s hair, carefully avoiding his ears, and took a deep inhale.

“Do you even know how good you smell?”, mumbled Lucas after a while.

Jungwoo chuckled quietly. “No, please tell me.”

“You smell cottony, so fresh and clean and just so you. I didn’t know what to make of it the first time I smelled it, it was just so incredible. But now I think I know exactly what this smell is.” Lucas paused momentarily.

“Home, baby. You smell like home to me.”

Jungwoo’s heart threatened to burst through his ribcage. For a second, he was at a loss for words, completely thrown off by Lucas’s heartfelt statement. With a shaky breath, the hybrid began to speak against Lucas’s neck.

“You smell like home for me too. Your scent is like a wet road in the woods, steaming after a thunderstorm in summer. It’s so earthy and musky and real, my knees literally went weak the first time I smelled you, I didn’t know what to do.” Lucas’s arms tightened around him, bringing the puppy impossibly closer.

“But now I know, that my soul already knew that you were my home before my mind was aware of it. Your scent is the best smell on earth to me and I hope to smell it forever and ever … ” His voice trailed off into silence. He felt like he didn’t need to say anymore.

“Oh baby, I’ll be there for you for as long as you’ll have me.”

Lucas’s confession made his heart burn once more.

“Does forever work for you?” the hybrid asked.

“I’ll check my calendar later, alright?”, was the cheeky answer from the businessman.

This earned him a smack on the arm for ruining the cheesy moment, but they remained inside each other's embrace for quite a bit, just basking in the presence of the other person.

“Baby, can I ask you a question?”, Lucas asked, voice cutting through the peaceful silence.

“Yeah sure baby, what’s up?”, was Jungwoo’s response, who drew back slightly from the tight embrace to look up into the other’s face. Lucas was grinning.

“Hehe, you called me baby.”, he smugly announced, quickly stealing a kiss from Jungwoo’s lips. The puppy looked at him rather unimpressed.

“Yeah I did and I probably will do in the future if that’s ok with you. Now ask me your question, please.”

“It’s more than ok with me baby, I love when you call me that.” Lucas ducked his hair to kiss Jungwoo again, this time more slow and sensual. When he drew back, there was a mischievous glint in his eyes. Jungwoo just rolled his eyes but smiled.

“Just spill the beans you horndog, after that we can continue with some morning sports if you know what I mean.”, Jungwoo said wiggling his eyebrows.

Lucas laughed and whooped at that.

‘He’s such an idiot’ thought Jungwoo fondly, ‘But he’s my idiot.’

“So ok, I don’t want to sound creepy, but I’m just so curious, I think I’ll actually die if I don’t find out,” started Lucas, making Jungwoo interested. What on earth was he on about?

“Sometimes, when I really miss you, I just, kind of, look at your room I guess. I don’t go in or do anything, don’t worry, but just looking at your stuff makes me feel like you’re there with me, in a weird way. Is that weird? It’s weird right?” He looked at Jungwoo with big eyes.

The hybrid chuckled.

“As long as you don’t go through my stuff without my permission it’s fine. Now get to the point.”

“Ok ok, bossy.” mumbled Lucas, still smiling and continuing in a normal volume, “I couldn’t help but notice those paper animals you have all-around your room, specifically the tiger by the window. Each animal seems to change place and sometimes I see new ones, but the tiger is always in this one place.” Lucas fell silent for a moment. “So, I guess, I just want to know. Did you make them? If so, how did you learn? Is it a hybrid thing? And what’s with that tiger? Is it special?”

There were a few beats of silence before Jungwoo decided to speak.

“That was more than just one question.”

Lucas sputtered: “I-I know, and I’m sorry if I’m overstepping any boundaries here, I was just curious, you don’t have to tell me of course … ”

“It’s fine.” interrupted him Jungwoo softly, “I haven’t told anyone before, but I guess I just want you to know now.”

And so he told Lucas the story. About how he had found his favourite short story by pure accident and decided to take on origami because of it. How it relaxed him to make those tiny, fragile figures and how every single one of them had a personality.

Lucas was listening attentively and nodding along, fascinated with the creativity and passion radiating off the talking Jungwoo.

Then it was time to talk about the tiger.

“The tiger you saw by my window is the first animal I have ever made. He’s not perfect in any way, but he has a big chunk of my heart, just like every other animal has another piece of me in it. He reminds me of love and the people I love when I look at him. That’s why I never move him, because with him there, my heart feels close to all my loved ones at all times. He protects a piece my heart and I know, he will guard it for as long as I let him.”

After Jungwoo’s emotional mini-speech, there was silence. His eyes had shifted to look at Lucas’s torso once again. At first, the hybrid had been afraid if had talked too much, made a fool of himself, but then Lucas took his chin between his long fingers and forced him to look him in the eyes.

Pure adoration and love were swimming in those brown orbs and all of Jungwoo’s worries flew out of the window.

“Will you teach me someday?” Lucas asked quietly, gaze intense, but soft.

“To make paper animals?”, was Jungwoo’s quiet response.

“Not just any animal. I want to make a tiger, you know, to protect a piece of my heart, just like yours. But then I want to give it to you because you have all of my heart.”

Lucas' eyes shimmered with emotions.

Jungwoo felt a bit breathless, weightless even after the intense statement.

“Of course, we can start today.”, was the answer from Jungwoo, basically just a whisper, soft like a breeze rustling through some leaves.

Lucas's smile deepened at that and he drew in Jungwoo for a long kiss.

They spent the rest of their morning fooling around in bed.

Later that day, Jungwoo had texted Ten and Taeyong the lucky news, that he had confessed and that the feelings were reciprocated. He was showered in messages of congratulations from Taeyong and a demand from Ten for a meeting to tell him all the juicy details. The puppy had smiled and set a date with both of them, excited to share the happy news in person.

In the evening, they had their first origami session together, with Lucas barely making a very “special” crane, that he gifted Jungwoo immediately. The hybrid had cradled the creature carefully to his chest and had thanked Lucas with enough kisses to turn both of their lips permanently red.

And if Jungwoo’s red tiger was standing by the window in Lucas’s old room, which was now officially their room, one day, one can be sure, that he wasn’t alone. By his side stood another tiger, navy blue in colour, full of imperfections, but also full of heart.


End file.
